


Four Souls

by KJMusical



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Multi, OT4, Polyamory, References to Depression, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:02:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26149882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KJMusical/pseuds/KJMusical
Summary: Love. An emotion that carries a lot of weight and impact behind it. An emotion that can create beautiful memories and destroy the happiness of others. An emotion that can be tool to create and a weapon to destroy. But what happens when one human and three monsters get involved with such a powerful emotion. Following a big mistake in the Dark World, the four are about to get a damn good idea of what love can do to an individual.
Relationships: Kris/Ralsei (Deltarune), Kris/Susie (Deltarune), Kris/Susie/Ralsei/Noelle Holiday, Noelle Holiday/Kris, Noelle Holiday/Susie (Deltarune), Susie/Ralsei
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	1. Prologue

"Susie, Kris... are you going to leave...?"

A lone figure wearing a pastel-green robe and hat, complete with a magenta scarf and a pair of green glasses, stood, sending the question to a pair of warriors, that had helped claim back the Dark World from a total tyrant. One warrior, a human male named Kris, had blue skin and hair and wore a suit of silver armor over a blue bodysuit with a short, torn pink and blue cape. The other, a reptilian female with yellow eyes, Susie, had plum hair, lavender pink skin and wore a long black vest with some purple trims, a sleeveless purple shirt, a pair of baggy plum pants, and black boots, complete with golden trims. On her arms, she had studded bracelets and around her waist, a belt with a large golden buckle in the shape of a heart.

The figure, Ralsei, walked forward until he was level with Susie and Kris' path. He turned to face the duo, his face obscured by shadows. "Umm... I..." he began, sliding his hat over his face as if to hide some sort of shame from his team mates. "I just wanted to say... I..."

Kris and Susie glanced at one another, unsure if they should prompt Ralsei to finish his sentence. When they looked back, his hat was completely off his head, but his face was hidden behind it. They could see however, a pair of white furry hands holding each side of said hat. "I... I really enjoyed meeting you two, and..." Ralsei continued, seemingly still shy about something. His voice was however, muffled slightly by his hat.

"Hey, can you STOP mumbling into your hat for a sec? Can barely hear ya, dude." Susie said, slight annoyance in her voice. Kris responded with a simple "Mmm-hmm." and a nod. Ralsei seemed to suddenly feel a twinge of guilt, as he suddenly blurted out the words "O-oh, I'm sorry!", before finally revealing his face. Susie, upon catching a glimpse of his face, seemed to have been taken aback by it, her eyes going wide and her body flared up, resulting in an odd pose, where she was standing with her right leg in front of her left, said leg bent whilst the her right leg was straight. This was made even more apparent by Susie's right arm going across her body, whilst her left arm was thrown backwards. Even Kris, who's hair had been over his eyes the whole time, had to lift his fringe up to get a good look at Ralsei. And even though he didn't react the same manner Susie did, there was still that element of surprise in his look.

Ralsei, to say the least, looked adorable to the two. He had white fur all over his face, complete with pink horns and some pink accents in his fur. There was also a pink flush on his cheeks, under the frames of his glasses, but by this point, that wasn't a shock to Kris and Susie. In fact, for Kris, just standing close to Ralsei would make him blush profusely.

"Um... Kris, Susie... I..." Ralsei began, his face visible and his voice clear, before he turned his head to face the human and reptile. Both Kris and Susie noticed inside his mouth was a pair of sharp canine teeth along the top row of his mouth. If Ralsei wanted to pull off a vampire goth look, with those teeth, he could probably pull it off with ease. He then closed his eyes before continuing to speak. "I hope I can see you again soon. Next time, I'll make you lots of yummy cakes, alright?"

Susie was speechless, still taken aback by how Ralsei looked without his hat. She quickly regained her composure, replying with a quick "Umm, yeah! Sure, dude..." followed by a quick nervous laugh. She then quickly turned to Kris, a blush of her own forming on her face. "Let's go, Kris." She muttered as she quickly walked towards the portal. Kris watched her walk off, before turning back to Ralsei. "Yeah, that'll be nice Ralsei." he said. Ralsei smiled back at him, still holding onto his hat. "See you around Kris." Ralsei said with a smile and a wave. Kris returned said gesture with a wave of his own, a smile and a "Yeah, see you soon." before walking after Susie.

* * *

The portal closed with Kris' soul and with that, a blinding white light consumed them both. Kris and Susie shielded their eyes from this assault on their sight and when the light faded, they were stuck in pitch blackness. "Wh... what happened?! I can't see anything!" Susie's voice spoken out, panicked from the blackness. What followed was a symphony of crashes, thumps, and voices from both Susie and Kris, along with other miscellaneous sounds. At one point, there was a sharp gasp from Susie, followed by a "Hey, watch it! That was my foot!" from her. After a few seconds, there was a click and light quickly filled the empty classroom Susie and Kris were standing in. Various toys and board games sprawled out on the floor, along with a cabinet that was open, spilling various paper works all over the floor too.

"H... huh...? The unused classroom...? How'd we get here?" Susie asked, confused. Kris matched the same amount of confusion she did. How DID they get in this classroom? They went through the closet at the beginning of the day. So how did it lead up to being here? Susie took a few steps forward, making sure she didn't step on another toy or game piece. After making observations about the room, she turned to Kris.

"Hey, Kris... what... what just happened? Like, that wasn't a dream or anything, was it?" Susie asked him. Kris, after a few seconds, shrugged and replied with a "I don't know. All that stuff in the Dark World felt way too real for it to be a dream." The two paused, standing for a few seconds, unsure of what to do next. "Anyway, as I was saying..." Susie began, even though she and Kris both knew she didn't say anything prior, Susie saying 'as I was saying...' was just to change the subject.

"Let's just tell Alphys we couldn't find any chalk." she finished.

"Agreed." Kris muttered back as Susie walked out of the classroom. Once the door closed, Kris turned around and noticed the clock on the wall behind him, reading 7:30pm. "Ah crap, mom is gonna kill me when I get home." Kris thought to himself. He very quickly ran out of the classroom, and met up with Susie, who was standing outside the dimly lit hallway, the sounds of crickets and birds outside being the only soundtrack to the moment before them.

"Man, the sun's already setting. Everyone else must've gone home by now." Susie said, taking in the atmosphere of the empty school halls. She then turned around to face Kris, the young boy looking up at Susie, meeting her eye sight. "Guess Alphys'll know better than to ask US next time, huh." she added, trying to make the lateness a joke. Kris smirked at this remark. The two then walked forward, down the hallway, stopping in front of the closet door to take one last look upon it. The same closet door that the two went through that morning. The same closet door that took them into the Dark World. The same closet door responsible for their little adventure. A few seconds of silence passed, as the two observed the wooden door, now more than likely back to normal after school hours.

Susie then turned to face Kris. "Well, guess we should go." she said to him. "See you later, I guess." The bully girl took a few steps down the hallway towards the exit. Kris stood back, watching his new friend, admiring how her frame looked in the sunlight, shining through the school's entrance. It almost looked... hypnotic, like if he watched it long enough, he'd forget where he was. He almost didn't notice when Susie stopped dead in her tracks. "Kris...?" she said, before turning around to face him. "Yes?" Kris asked back. Susie then walked back over to Kris, standing in front of him, towering over him. She then took out her arm and rested her hand on his shoulder, just like she did that morning, before she slammed him into a row of lockers behind him and threatened to bite his face off. But there was no roughness to her hand, just a gentle clasp that felt... surprisingly pleasant to the human boy.

"Let's go back there tomorrow, alright?" Susie suggested to Kris, a smile on her face and her eyes visible under her hair. Kris couldn't help but stare into her eyes as they looked down upon him. He never had the chance to look into them due to her hair being over them, but now that he could see into them, he saw... something in them. He didn't know how to describe it, but he saw something in there. In fact, there was another emotion at play. He had heard about before from his mother's novels that she'd accidentally leave around the house, but he hadn't experienced it in a long time. Is this... what love felt like?

"Kris!" she yelled, snapping him out of his stupor. "Oh! S-sorry Susie. I don't think that's a good idea. I think my mom's gonna ground me when I get home." Kris said, stumbling over his words a little. "Oh." Susie replied, releasing the grip on his shoulder. "Well, like I said this morning, you have a good mother. She cares about you. Appreciate it, dude." Susie said. Kris wasn't sure, but he was certain he heard a tinge of sadness in her voice when she mentioned his mother. Kris was about to ask if Susie was okay, but by the time he spoke up with a "Susie, are you-?", she was gone. Out the door more likely.

Kris sighed as he began to make his way to the front door. Through the glass, he can see out into the street. Despite the sun's glow in the sky, it seemed like it wouldn't be up for very long, considering the sky was darkening on one side. He was just about to reach for the door handle when a sudden ring emanated from his pocket. Startled, he quickly pulled out his phone and looked up the caller ID, to see one word:

'Mom'

Oh crap, here it comes. Kris felt nervousness course through his body. He didn't plan to be out this late! In fact, if the school day went like normal, he would've waited until his mother, known to everyone else as either Toriel or Ms. Dreemur, finished her work, then went home with her in her car, just like how he came with her to school. Kris sighed and braced himself mentally before accepting the call and placing the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"K... Kris?!" Toriel's voice said on the other side of the phone, sounding concerned. After all, what parent wouldn't be? You more than likely would if your child suddenly went missing after a day's work of school! "Whatever have you been doing?! I sat in the car waiting for you after school for half an hour...!"

Kris spoke up. "Mom, I'm really sorry. I wasn't..." he explained, before Toriel, in a panic, interrupted him. "I called and called, but you never picked up. You had your poor mother worried sick!" A sigh escaped from Kris' mouth. He could understand Toriel's reaction, but even he felt this was a bit much. "Mom-." Kris began, before she interrupted him again. "Kris, I am afraid I am going to have to punish you..."

"MOM!" Kris snapped down the phone, resulting in Toriel going quiet. Kris paused, two fingers gently pinching the bridge of his nose. He sighed, trying to calm himself down, before continuing. "Look mom, I'm so sorry. I know I say that a lot whenever I get in trouble nowadays, but I mean it this time. I didn't mean to be out late. I wasn't trying to make you worried. I just... I met a new friend, they invited me to spend some time with them and we got caught up in a few things. I guess we just lost track of time, that's all."

There was a pause on the other side, before Toriel's voice was heard once again. "A friend? You were spending time with... a friend?" She said, more happy for her son. Kris smiled, happy he managed to calm her down, even if a little bit. "Yeah, she's a really nice person once you get to know her." he replied. Another pause.

"Kris..." Toriel said, followed by him giving a "Yeah?" in response. Toriel then continued. "I will make an exception this time. You can continue your adventures a little longer." Kris sighed in relief. "Thanks mo-." Kris began, before Toriel spoke up. "I'm not finished Kris. You can continue your adventures a little longer, but when you return home, you are going to have to go to bed early." She continued, the happiness in her tone replaced with a strong authority upon mentioning Kris needing to go to bed early. Kris sighed again. He really should've seen this coming. "Alright. I'm gonna give Mr. Holiday a visit in the hospital, then I'll be home in about half an hour." he said.

Toriel then replied with a simple "Okay sweetie. See you soon, honey." and hung up. Kris looked up and then made his way out of the door, back onto the street.

* * *

Well, that was nice, seeing Rudolph Holiday again. Kris couldn't help but smile at the classic 'Looks like Krismas came early!' joke Mr. Holiday would say to him upon the two meeting. He had heard it a thousand times by this point and while others would get sick and tired of hearing it and would ask Mr. Holiday to stop repeating it, Kris couldn't help but smile whenever he heard it. And of course, Rudolph had to bring up the time Kris got caught in the family's light display last Christmas. Of course, it was all in jest, but still, Kris was only trying to get some snow off the lights so he could prank Noelle! And he DID pay for the lights he managed to break by accident. He didn't know that there was ice up there.

The two spoke about the times him and Kris' father Asgore spent in college, during the parties and how Toriel once sent him flying across a room with a lime key pie to the face like some demented clown act, which by the way, Kris had enjoyed ever since he was a baby. Eventually though, the conversation changed to be about Noelle. About how she was so kind, so sweet, so smart and other things. Of course, Kris knew about all those things with her. The two had known each other since their early childhoods. In fact, Noelle was probably the first ever friend Kris had made during his youth. Sure, he had other friends, but they came and went whilst Noelle stayed by his side, no matter what happened in either of their lives. So when Rudolph asked Kris to keep an eye on his daughter for him, he knew he would take up the offer. Even if it meant he would get himself hurt to protect her, he knew deep down it would be worth it.

Kris had that promise he made playing in his head over and over again as he walked closer to his home. He was just about to turn the corner to go up to the driveway to his home, when he noticed a familiar head of long blonde hair tied in low bunches, covering a body wearing a red and green checkered sweater and a gray romper. "Huh? What's Noelle doing outside?" Kris thought to himself as he walked up to her. "Noelle?" he asked, causing her to jump a little and turn around in shock, calming down upon seeing it was Kris. "Oh, hi Kris!" she said cheerfully. She continued to smile as she spoke, a smile that Kris had gotten familiar with in all the years he had known her for.

"Did you need help with your homework again? I know you were having trouble last time, so, um... I actually got a few things ready for you, in case-." she suddenly stopped, her eyes going wide, as if she just remembered something important. "Ah, wait, sorry! I can't right now..." Noelle suddenly said. Kris cocked his head to the side, curiously. "Why? Is something wrong? Don't tell me that you've...!" he said, before trailing off, already knowing the answer to what she was about to tell him.

"I forgot my house key again and... sorry Kris, I'll help you later, if that's okay." she said. Kris rolled his eyes, although his hair was in the way, so Noelle didn't notice. "Don't worry about it Noelle. I don't have any homework at the moment. In fact, I just wanted to talk to you for a bit before I go back home. Mom's not really too happy with me. After school, she waited outside the school for about two hours or so, before going back home. But I got caught up in some stuff with Susie and-."

"Oh that's right! You were with Susie last I saw you. When you didn't come back to class, I was worried, but... everything turned out okay! I think?" Noelle replied. She paused briefly, before continuing. "Umm, Kris? Can I ask you something, if that's okay?" Kris sighed. "If it's about that pencil I let you borrow last week for school, keep it. I've got plenty at home."

Noelle replied with a confused "Hmmm?", before quickly shaking her head. "N-no! It's not about that. It's about... Susie. I'm kind of... curious what she's like, you know? I mean, who DOESN'T wonder about her? She never talks to anyone. So Kris, could you tell me about her? If that's okay...?" she explained, pressing her index fingers together and leaning forward slightly towards Kris at her question.

At first, Kris pondered why Noelle wanted to know so much about her. Him and Susie just spent a day together, how was he supposed to answer that? It didn't help that Kris noticed how lovey dovey Noelle would get at the thought of Susie. Kris always had a feeling Noelle was attracted to girls, even since the two began puberty. What was the word his mother used to describe girls that like other girls again? Oh yes, lesbian. Kris always had a feeling Noelle was a lesbian, or at the very least, bi-curious.

He noticed how she would hardly ever take interest in boys around her. There were some exceptions, but he wasn't sure if it was attraction or not on Noelle's part. He noticed how she would always stare longingly at other girls. She had especially been doing towards Susie. Thank goodness Susie hadn't noticed yet, she would've probably destroyed the fragile deer.

Not that Kris minded or cared. Toriel always taught him that some people are romantically attracted to people that are the same gender as them, and that they are no different than other people. Heck, if Noelle wanted to come out and say she was interested in girls, Kris wouldn't hold it against her. If anything, he'd love her even more for coming out of her shell like this. Ever since they were kids, Noelle was always the shy friend Kris had. He remembered that he would always have to encourage Noelle to introduce herself to other people.

And now, here she was, asking him about Susie? The same Susie he had developed a crush on? Kris wondered if he should even say anything or not. He didn't want to have to compete with his childhood friend, for Susie's heart. Sure, they played games with one another and got pretty competitive with each other when they were younger, but those were over video games and the like. Over love? It would be a matter of life and death for the two friends! Okay, maybe not life and death, but there would be HUGE consequences following it!

But Kris felt like Noelle should know a bit about Susie, before making any sort of move. After all, the two are childhood friends after all.

"Well, Susie's... she's quite rough around the edges and can be real mean spirited if she wants to be." Kris began. Noelle's smile began to drop into a frown, to which Kris took notice. "But once you get to know her, she's a really nice person." Noelle seemed surprised at this sudden revelation. "What...? She's... a nice person? Really?! L-like, really?! Honestly?! Truly?!" Noelle asked him, shock ever so present in her voice, the smile slowly growing back on her face. Kris smiled himself and nodded. He always found it adorable whenever Noelle would smile. If the two hadn't been friends and Noelle was into guys as much as she's into girls, he probably would fall for her himself just from her smile alone.

"I mean, that's just what I was hoping, but..." she continued, but once again trailed off. The smile melted off her face and quickly got replaced by a look of suspicion, almost as if she could sense Kris was making something up, despite him telling her the absolute truth. "W-wait, this isn't another trick, is it Kris? Like when you put ketchup on your arms and told me it was blood?"

Kris remembered back to those days. Yes, one of Kris' many things he'd do with Noelle was prank her. The old ketchup on the arms trick never got old with him. Every now and then, usually whenever Kris was in the kitchen, Kris would dump some ketchup all over his arms, then after a few seconds, let out a fake scream of pain and drop to the floor, causing Noelle to run over concerned for her friend's state. He would scream, he would cry and shout things like "I think I just cut myself!" and "Noelle, get an ambulance!" before standing back up laughing, showing her it was harmless ketchup. The aftermath would usually be a light punch to his chest and Noelle stomping off, shouting something like "That isn't funny Kris! You had me worried sick!" or something along those lines. He did this prank all the time when the two were about 8 or so, but when they reached about 13 or so, Noelle started to catch on to the prank, even managing to get Kris back using a pound of makeup on her hand and a blender full of fake blood.

Kris took a step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder, much like Susie did to him. Such an action caused Noelle to tense up a little as she leaned back slightly. Kris then proceeded to look her dead in the eyes, lifting his fringe up so he could see eye to eye with her, his eyes being a bright deep blue, a sharp contrast to the red eyes he had back in the Dark World, before speaking. "Noelle, you're my best friend. And I know I've done stupid pranks like that when we were young, but I would not lie about something you're interested in. I'm telling you right now, Susie is a really nice person once you get to know her."

"R-really? You're serious? You're totally serious?" Noelle said, Kris nodding again. "Gosh, then maybe I should try talking to her..." she added. Kris smiled, adding his own two cents in. "There we go. You know I enjoy it when you come out of your shell every now and then, Noelle." Kris said, Noelle blushing a little at the compliment. Noelle playfully fired back with "B-but if I die, you're paying for my funeral, Kris!"

Kris smirked. "C'mon Noelle, your interest in Susie is as subtle as whenever my dad hugs me!" he said playfully with a gentle poke to Noelle's side, earning a little "Eep!" from her. Kris pretended to be surprised at this reaction, complete with a "Oh! What's this? After all these years, you still react to me poking that spot?", not once dropping the playful demeanor. He knew too well that Noelle was ticklish, and whenever the opportunity presented itself, he would find a way to tickle Noelle. The result would usually be the two of them on the ground, her laughing hysterically as he ran his hands and fingers along her torso at an erratic pace, especially aiming around her arm pits, neck and stomach.

"Kris! That's not fair!" Noelle said, trying to hold back laughter. Such a reaction gave Kris an evil smirk, as he knew exactly what was about to go down. "Are you still ticklish after all these years, Noelle?" Kris asked. Noelle shook her head quickly, knowing what was coming. "N-N-No, I'm not! Those spots of me are just sensitive! That's all!" She said in a panic.

In a few short seconds, the hand on Noelle's shoulder quickly made its way into Noelle's arm pit and was playing with her delicate skin and fur through the fabric of her sweater, while the free hand was making rounds on Noelle's stomach, again through her sweater, all the while, Noelle trying to prevent Kris from getting to those parts of her body by moving suddenly. However, despite her efforts, every time she blocked off a ticklish portion of her body, Kris would make a break for the nearest one, starting the cycle all over again. Kris would do this all the time when they were kids and he enjoyed getting Noelle to laugh 'till she cried through his tickle torture. If she was lucky, Noelle would get the chance to return fire with the tickles. It had been so many years since he last did it to her. Not something you'd expect two 17 year olds to do to each other, but every now and then, Kris would tickle torture Noelle for old time's sake.

Noelle tried desperately to hold back the urge to let out her laughter through Kris' relentless tickling. "C'mon Noelle, you know you can't hold it in forever!" Kris said playfully. Noelle's face scrunched into a smile, complete with a few small snorts out of her, before her mouth opened and strong, loud laughter escaped, echoing throughout the small area they were in. Kris got exactly what he wanted in that moment, but it wasn't enough. So, after a few seconds, he quickly spun Noelle around and held her with one arm going across her chest and clutching her other shoulder, while her free hand went open season on her sides, arm pits and neck.

Noelle's eyes streamed with tears as she hysterically laughed in response. "K-Kris! Please s-stop! I'm gonna wet myself!" Noelle cried out in between laughs. But Kris was still relentless with his tickle attacks. After a few minutes, the two found themselves on the ground, just like their child selves have done countless times before. The two managed to work up quite a sweat with their tickle games and it took them a good few minutes for them to catch their breath. After they had calmed down and stood back up, Kris looked at his phone and quickly took note of the time.

"Oh crap! Noelle, I gotta go!" he quickly said. Noelle, who was still shaken up over Kris' tickling, nodded and replied with "Yeah. I think Ms. Toriel is wondering where you are still."

"Yeah." Kris said. He then held his arms up, causing Noelle to back up slightly, fearing another tickle attack from him. "Hug?" Kris said, reassuring Noelle. Noelle calmed down, before opening up her own arms and walking into Kris', both locking their arms around the other's back. The two stood like that for a few seconds, taking in the sound of each other's breathing and the warmth the two gave each other, before breaking their hug and Kris running off down his driveway back to his home.

* * *

Kris quickly ran in through the front door and closed it behind him. He stood in front of it, his back resting against the door itself and his hands on his knees as struggled to catch his breath. He then looked up to see Toriel sitting in a small arm chair looking at him, a small light brown book in her hands. She must've been reading it when he burst through the door.

"Welcome home, honey! You look tired out, did you run all the way back home?" Toriel greeted Kris, especially taking note of how tired Kris was. Once he caught his breath, Kris answered his mother's question. "Nah, it wasn't that. Most of the running was from the end of the driveway to here. I was talking to Noelle for a little bit, and got into a little tickling with her. You know how ticklish she is." he explained, earning a little chuckle out of Toriel.

"Yes, I'm aware. You two were inseparable as children. All the games you'd play, the pranks you'd pull on her, even if I didn't like the mess you made with your little ketchup blood pranks." Toriel said. She placed the book she was holding on the chair's arm rest before continuing, still reminiscing about times long gone. "I still remember those times Mr. Holiday and... Asgore would get into trouble during their times in college. Did Mr. Holiday tell you about the time I hit him with a key lime pie? I didn't even think I threw it that hard. But I guess that's what happens when you're a part of the college's shot put team." she said, blissfully thinking back to her days in that college. Before she got engaged to Asgore, before they had Asriel and Kris and way before Asgore... well, Toriel didn't want to think that far ahead, so she quickly changed the subject. "Did you have fun with your friend today?"

Kris nodded. He wanted to explain about the Dark World and stuff, but he couldn't prove anything. If he told Toriel about the Dark World, he just knew that Toriel wouldn't believe a word of it. Who would, aside from him and Susie, those who ACTUALLY saw it? Toriel spoke up again, as she picked her book back up. "By the way, I just finished baking a pie. If you go to bed, it will be cool when you wake. But do not eat it all this time, all right?" She said. 

"Nah, I won't." Kris reassured her, sighing again as he thought back to when he did eat a whole pie. He was only 5 when he did that. He didn't know about self control. He didn't know what he was doing until it was too late. He must've saw the pie sitting there, went over and picked at it, enjoying the taste so much that he didn't know when to stop. Thankfully, Asgore did tell Kris he would keep it hidden from Toriel. Too bad she found out later on, and that got Kris a good long time out in his room. "I was 5 the last time I did that, mom. I haven't done it since." He said, walking up to the arm chair Toriel sat in.

Toriel turned to get a good look at Kris, that book still in her hand. Just seeing his face under the fringe of his hair made her smile. "Kris, honey, you have grown up so much. Someday soon, you will be off to university too." Toriel said, a few tears brewing in her eyes as she spoke about university. It was difficult for Toriel to say goodbye to Asriel when he left for uni, so Kris could only imagine how much harder it will be for her to do the same to him. She paused briefly, taking the memories in before bringing another up. "Remember when you were little, you asked when your horns were going to grow in?"

Kris blushed. He really didn't need to be reminded of that day. He was 6 when he asked that question, another childhood memory that he would rather forget. "Mom, please. No." he said, his face flushed red with embarrassment. But whether Toriel knew about her son's embarrassment or not, she continued. "So we brought that headband with the little red horns on it. Oh, you wore it for months! Whatever happened to it?" She then went back to her book, reading where she last left off.

Kris shrugged in response. It was easier to say that he didn't know where it could be. But the truth was, he actually found it a few days prior and threw it in the trash. Thank goodness that the bins were going out the following morning. Who knows how Toriel would've reacted? Kris was about to walk off to his room, to bed, when he stopped briefly. "Mom, did Asriel tell you when he'll be coming back from uni?" he asked.

Toriel paused her reading and looked up, as if trying to remember. "No, I don't think he has. I do hope he comes back soon though. I know how much you miss him. Aside from Noelle, you and Asriel were just as inseparable. Remember that video game you and Asriel used to play? What was it called...? Super Smashing Fighters?" Kris smiled, as fond memories of playing that game with his brother came flooding into his head. "When he was very little, he LOVED the green lizard from that. We even had a birthday party for him themed around it. Your father painted all these eggs with spots as decoration." She continued, pointing at some nearby eggs on the windowsill.

Kris remembered that party, as if it was only yesterday. The big lizard cake, the amount of eggs Asgore had painted. And the HUGE amount of green that was present at that party! Kris even remembered that Asriel would often trick or treat on Halloween as this character, Tsyuka (pronounced sss-you-ka, although Toriel still found it hard to say the name, even with Asriel constantly correcting her), so much so that he ended up being recognized for his costume whenever he would go out with it on. But my word, did Asriel throw a fit when it came to telling Asriel he had to throw the costume away some day. Even when they explained to him that he was too big for the costume, Asriel still wanted to hold onto it. So, they had Kris throw the costume away in secret. To this day, Asriel hasn't asked about it, and doesn't even know where it is.

"Oh, your brother LOVED it... Until the next day, your father cooked them all for breakfast. Your brother just kept crying... I can't thank you enough for buying some more eggs and getting Asriel to paint them with you. But ever since, he's hated that book about eating green eggs." Toriel finished, laughing to herself at the book part. Kris chuckled a little too. "You know I couldn't let my brother be upset after his birthday, mom. He's just too precious for me to do so." he said. He then turned around to face the stairs. "Alright mom, I'm gonna head off to bed. Thanks for the pie too. I'll have some of that pie later on." he explained, leaning forward to plant a kiss on Toriel's cheek and walking off.

"Okay sweetie. Sleep well!" Toriel called after him. Once Kris got to the top of the stairs, he turned to his right and walked through the first door he saw. A familiar sight, Kris and Asriel's room. On the left side was Asriel's bed, the covers neat and tidy, beneath a shelf full of trophies and next to it was a nightstand, a clock, a book and a lamp standing proudly upon it. The wall was adorned with star stickers, a poster with a flower on it and a certificate Asriel had won many years ago. His computer sat upon a desk, far from the bed on the other side of the room. The right side however, could be considered the polar opposite. Only a single bed, Kris', was in that corner, the sheets opened up on one side, just as Kris left it that morning. Just like Asriel's side, there were some shelves above the bed and a nightstand beside it. Unlike Asriel's side, the only thing the nightstand had on it was a lamp, while the shelves were barren and empty, only dust and maybe a few cobwebs being the prize it was able to hold. On the other side of the room was a small red wagon, battered and dirty. Inside is an old birdcage. Kris did have a pet canary at one point, but the bird sadly passed away and Kris had held onto that birdcage ever since in memory of it. There was also a dark stain in the carpet at the end of Kris' bed. Kris didn't remember where that stain came from, but if he had to guess, it must've been from when he was sick one day. Yeah, he must've vomited down there and forgot to clean it up.

Ever since his brother left for uni, he had felt so lonely. Usually, he would just play video games with him until it was time for bed, but nowadays, he just lies on the floor, listening to his music, which, during the time Asriel was here, consisted of pop songs with major keys and scales, bouncy melodies and upbeat lyrics about happiness, love, family and the like, but now mostly consisted of piano ballads and pop songs with minor scales and keys, low melodies and rather melancholic lyrics about depression, heartbreak, loneliness and other things of that nature. Sure, he'd listen to those same happy upbeat pop songs, but not as often as he used to. In fact, as Kris walked to his bed, he couldn't help but get this feeling of overwhelming sadness come over him.

He almost didn't pay it any attention. He's felt this way so often, it has become almost normal for him. It felt like ever since Asgore and Toriel divorced and Asriel left for university, he's been feeling more down than usual. He's had mornings where he didn't want to get out of bed, even if he had school that day. Those times it would take Toriel a good few minutes to convince Kris to get up. He's had nights where he longed to go back to sleep, just to escape this feeling. At times, he's even found himself crying in his sleep for seemingly no reason, even waking up to his eyes watering and his pillow soaking wet with what he assumed were tears. Even so, he had no recollection of what he was crying about. In fact, maybe Susie would've done Kris a favor by biting his face off. He thought back to that morning. Susie holding him against the locker, talking about how quiet people pissed her off as she put it, before asking that familiar question:

"Kris, how would you feel... about losing your face?"

All the while, showing off her teeth half way through the question. Then, there was that tense moment, where Susie began to pull Kris towards her open mouth. Normally, Kris would panic and try to pull away. But that day, he was having an episode and when he saw Susie's mouth coming towards him, part of him felt like this was it. His one way ticket out of his misery. Just one chomp and it'll all be over. But right when Kris got his hopes up, Susie dropped him, saying it'd be a shame to make his mother bury her child. Kris could've said something snarky there, but at that moment, he felt too low emotionally to even speak. Sure, during his time in the Dark World, he said some things and spoke up at times, but for the most part, he was quiet. Whenever he was around others however, he always made sure to hide the episodes. Who knows how they'd react if they found out about this. Noelle brought a lot of sunshine to Kris, especially when he did those pranks and tickle tortures on her. He hated to imagine a time line where Noelle wasn't present in his life.

Kris made his way over to his bed, and stood there, looking at it. He had a think about Asriel, Toriel, Noelle, Susie, Ralsei, Lancer and all the other friends he made. He dropped to his knees as he felt his eyes water again. And what was worse for him, was that he didn't know why he was suddenly upset. He didn't really have a reason to be upset, but he couldn't help himself. All he could do was hide his face in his arms as he silently wept to himself. He cried for a few minutes, before lifting his face out of his arms, telling himself he was fine, but if someone else was in the room with him, they'd be able to tell Kris was trying to convince himself he's fine, even though he clearly isn't. Kris stood back up and sighed to himself. He just wanted the day to be over by this point.

So Kris just pulled the covers back, climbed into bed and then replaced the covers back over his body, not even bothering to get out of his clothes.


	2. Chapter 2: Familiar Sights and Sounds

Kris stood before the edge of a rocky cliff, overlooking a strange drop that was shrouded by mist. Above him was a clear sky full of stars and a full moon. Around him however, was an even thicker fog, almost like something he'd see in one of those haunted house attractions. There was a rusty rail going along the edge, presumably to keep wandering visitors from plunging off to their doom. He walked up to the ledge, although he didn't recall his mind telling his body to move. He just observed the world as the vessel that was his moved, the same way one would observe a movie on a TV screen.

He looked downwards, into the mist. He couldn't see any sight of where the drop would end, should he fall from his place. He could hear waves crashing against a surface though, so if he had to guess, there was some sort of body of water beneath the mist. Although, before he could turn around and walk away, he started hearing faint whispers from below. Voices that sounded familiar to him, but at the same time, eerie and unnatural.

"Kris... down here." One voice would whisper.

"Jump..." another would follow.

He took a step back in shock, replaying what the previous voice suggested to him. To jump off the edge, to join the choir of whispers, to, possibly, die. Kris shook his head and turned around, only to be faced with a ominous sight. One that shook his very being to the core and made his blood run cold.

Kris saw the silhouettes of his friends and family in the fog. No features, no expressions, just black figures that were standing before him, their outlines taking familiar form to him. He recognized the shapes to be Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, his mother Toriel and his father Asgore. Kris held out a hand to the figures. "G... guys?" he asked the voices.

Just as suddenly as they appeared, Susie's silhouette ran at him, her footsteps echoing around Kris as she got closer. Kris moved his hair away from his eyes to get a good look at her as she approached. When she was a few feet away, her features became visible, but they were horrific to Kris who recoiled in horror at the sight of her.

Susie had the same angry snarl on her face from when she threatened to bite his face off, except this time, her eyes were blood red and almost appeared to glow through the fog. Her rows of sharp teeth were visible through her enraged expression, jagged and ready to tear into Kris' skin. He also noticed some white froth at the corners of her mouth, looking almost like the rabies virus.

"KRIS!" Susie snarled, pure rage in her voice, her voice accompanied by a second that sounded a lot lower in pitch, probably about 4 or 5 semitones lower than her normal voice. This sound, accompanied with Susie's monstrous appearance and movements, was enough to make Kris, without a second thought, turn to the edge and run straight for it.

His foot got onto the rail and with all of his momentum behind him, he flung himself forward, away from the ledge and into the fog. His body turned as he fell, catching one glimpse of the others as they approached the ledge, before the mist consumed him. They had their same appearances from the real world (or rather, the Dark World in Ralsei's case), but with the same glowing red eyes and overall animalistic changes that Susie had.

Kris felt the wind rush through his hair and the seemingly endless feeling of falling. It was at this point he started wondering how high this drop was. It couldn't have been too high! He heard water beneath the mist a few minutes ago! Kris turned his body to face the ground, hoping he would see something rushing up to meet him, even if it was dark water. But what he saw was a thousand times worse.

There was water belong him, but there were multiple silhouettes within the water, frantically splashing around and desperately trying to reach for something above the surface, being pulled down by something beyond what Kris could see. The figures looked as though they were drowning, some figures breaking the surface and screaming for help, before being pulled back under, their open mouths swallowing water and air escaping their lungs as they continued to scream. He saw some of the figures being Berdly, Lancer, Rouxls Kaard, Jevil and a few other faces he had seen. Multiple voices called out, mostly cries for help, but there were a few deep voices, giving back verbal abuse to those who cried out.

Kris covered his face with his arms as he panicked, dreading the impact with the water, fearing that once he hit the surface, he'll become one of those things. Just as his body hit the water hard, he heard a voice, which sounded a lot like the King of the Dark World's, saying "You won't ever escape me, Kris!", followed by a mocking evil laugh as the figures gripped at Kris' ankles and began to pull him deeper into the water's depths, below him nothing but darkness. He could only scream as the light above him from the moon began to get smaller and smaller the deeper he was pulled. His hair danced frantically as he tried to fight against the hands, pulling him towards the dark, precious oxygen escaping his lungs in bubbles, being replaced with the waters, causing him to begin to drown.

He then looked forward to see Susie once again, her body the same as before, swimming towards him through the darkness. She reached out to grab him as her mouth opened up, revealing her teeth to Kris. Just as her mouth engulfed him and slammed shut, trapping him in even more darkness, Kris bolted upright, his eyes wide behind his fringe.

It took a few seconds of observing his surroundings before he calmed down, relieved he was back in his room, the nightmare he had finally over. He looked back at his bed, a human sized and shaped sweat mark was drenched into the mattress cover, especially around where his arm pits and his head were. He remembered that he had felt hot in his normal clothes while under his bed covers, so he quickly got out of bed, changed his clothes into a white tank top and his boxers, before climbing back into bed. With the amount of sweat that was dried into his bed, who knows how long he was in that nightmare for. But Kris was out of his nightmare now, and to him, that was all that mattered.

He got out of his bed, taking note that it was still dark outside. He then saw the glow of the digital clock on Asriel's side of the room, reading 00:15, Asriel's bed remaining empty, just as it did earlier that day. Kris walked over to the window, pulled back the curtains that Toriel more than likely closed while Kris was asleep and looked outside. The moon shone brightly in the night sky, casting an almost ethereal glow onto the neighborhood, basking it in faint blue light. He couldn't help but smirk a little. The way the moonlight reflected off the houses and the empty streets reminded Kris of being back in the Dark World. Back with Susie and Ralsei, back with his friends, back to his adventures overthrowing the King and so on. Some moonlight leaked into the bedroom, casting a glimmer of light into the otherwise pitch black room.

With a head full of thoughts, mostly consisting of memories with Asriel and his friends, Kris turned around, planning to go back to bed, despite the fact that his dried sweat would more than likely leave a horrid and clammy feeling on his skin. But before he could lift the bed covers, he felt a dryness in his throat. He quickly but quietly walked over to the bedroom door and gently pushed it open, to be greeted by a dark hallway.

After making sure that Toriel was still asleep, he walked out of his bedroom and made his way down the stairs, making sure every step had no potential of making any noise that would wake up his mother. At the bottom of the stairs, he proceeded to turn to the kitchen. He looked around for a cup or a glass, but there were none visible to Kris. He felt as though it were too dangerous to start looking inside the cupboards for one, since the Dreemur household has so many other things, that if one were to fall out of their resting place and hit the floor, whether they shatter or not, the noise would wake Toriel up and draw attention from her. And should that happen, Kris would be dead.

He sighed quietly to himself and was about to walk back upstairs, when he noticed a single glass left in the sink. The pie Toriel mentioned earlier sat on the stove, where he last saw it. It was tempting to take a piece right then and there, but he felt like Toriel would scold him if he did such a thing. So he just walked up to the sink and took the glass. He slowly turned on the cold tap, allowing a stream of water to rush out of the appliance into the glass, complete with a soft hissing sound. After a few seconds, the glass was full and Kris turned off the tap, returning the house to dead silence.

He walked into the living room, glass of water in hand, and sat in the arm chair his mother was sitting in earlier. He let his thoughts run wild for a while as he sat, occasionally taking a sip out of the glass, his eyes glancing at the moonlight outside the window. Ever since he was a baby, he always enjoyed sitting in this armchair. It just felt so comfortable to him, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the feeling of the cushions upon the frame of his body, or maybe, it was the way the chair felt whenever he would lean against it. Kris could easily fall asleep in this arm chair. In fact, he had done, multiple times. 

He would feel so embarrassed whenever Toriel would wake him up after she found him asleep in said arm chair, although sometimes, Toriel had found him asleep in the arm chair and just left him there to sleep. While he appreciated not being disturbed, it still was embarrassing whenever he would wake up and find himself still in the chair. Usually, it would happen either shortly after Kris and Toriel got home after school or after dinner. Kris would sit down in that arm chair while Toriel sat in either the opposite arm chair or on the sofa, watching television. Kris would find himself feeling tired or notice he was dozing off constantly. He would try and fight this urge to sleep, but more often or not, he would end up dozing off. Sometimes, when he woke up, if he wasn't still in the arm chair, he'd be in his bed.

Speaking of dozing off, Kris started to feel his eyes slowly close the more he sat in the chair. Unlike most times where he sat there, trying to fight it, he quickly got up. He quickly finished his glass of water before returning to the kitchen and gently placing the glass back into the sink. He then paused, seemingly deep in thought once again. He took a look at the front door, pondering if it was worth going for a walk or not.

This was another Kris would do whenever we woke up in the night. He would grab his house keys, along with his coat from his bedroom (as well as get dressed of course), and go for a long walk. He would take in the surroundings, how the area looked (which he knew like the back of his hand at his age) and wondering about how people are doing in their lives. More often or not, he would ponder about specific people and events in this life whenever he passed their home or wherever the events took place. He would think about his father, Asgore Dreemur, whenever he passed Flower King, his father's shop. He'd think about Noelle whenever he passed the gate to the Holiday residence. About Mr. Holiday whenever he passed the hospital. About him and Asriel's misadventures at QC's Diner and Ice-E's P"e"zza whenever he passed those places.

But tonight, Kris wasn't in that mind state. Instead, he just made the short journey back to his room. Once back in his room, he closed the curtains, shrouding the room in almost total darkness once more, before climbing back into bed, ignoring the rather pungent smell of dried sweat and the vile clammy feel of said dried sweat on his skin.

* * *

Kris awoke early the following morning. Very rarely did he ever wake up that early, especially on a school day. Normally, he would go right back to sleep, but that morning, he felt far too awake to even attempt doing so. He sat up in his bed, making sure he was fully awake before he would even attempt to get up. He didn't want a repeat of when he got up half asleep, fell and banged his head against his nightstand. He had Toriel worried sick about his injuries after that!

He looked towards Asriel's side of the room, his clock reading 6:30. After a few minutes of sitting there, Kris climbed out of bed, opening a dresser and taking out a towel. With the towel in his hand, he made his way out of the room, en route to the bathroom.

He knew Toriel would come into his room within the next hour or there abouts, so he decided to get his shower, breakfast and clothes done before then.

* * *

"Another day, another boring class." Kris thought to himself, as he sat, listening to Ms. Alphys drone on about some stuff he probably won't remember by the end of the day. He had a look around the room. There were various certificates hung on the hall to the left of the blackboard, what they were for, Kris could only guess, since where he sat made the writing on them almost unintelligible. Next to the classroom door was the clock, forever stuck at 2 o'clock. The battery on that clock had died so long ago and Alphys did say that she would replace the batteries soon, but even now, she never did. Whether it was due to lack of time or any other reason was anybody's guess. A lot of students, Kris included, would sometimes look at that clock and be excited that the day was almost over, before remembering that Alphys never changed the batteries and sinking back into their disappointed slump as they continued with their work.

Once he took in the classroom's set up, Kris started looking around at the other classmates, sitting in desks that surrounded his own, facing the front of the class, just like his. To his right, from the front row to the back row, was Temmie, a... thing that was planning to go to "colleg" as she puts it, but is often considered to be the class idiot by others, Monster Kid, who was one of the more focused individuals in the class (he certainly seems to have a bright future ahead of him, despite his lack of arms) and Snowy, a snowdrake who, for some reason that Kris didn't know nor cared about, felt the need to speak in some stupid cowboy accent. Whenever he did speak, it was usually accompanied with the most God awful puns and jokes.

To Kris' left, going from the back row to the front row, was Jockington, a snake with a 'cool hat' and a speech impediment, which causes him to pause mid sentence, Catti, the sister to the Dreemur household's neighbor Catty, who pays more attention to her phone more than anything (Kris always wondered why Alphys never takes the phone off her when it's so blatant) and Noelle. In front of him, just before the blackboard where Alphys had finished writing and had sat down at her computer, was a desk belonging to Berdly.

Ugh... Berdly. The self proclaimed 'smartest guy in class'. The straight A student that feels the need to rub his academic successes in EVERYBODY'S faces. Maybe that was why he was such a loner outside the classroom. No, scratch that. That was more than likely why he was such a loner. Most students just learned to ignore him, especially when he goes off on his tangents about how his high grades are gonna get him into the best colleges, how he's high and mighty over everyone else because he put in the 'effort' to study. Maybe it was true, but every time he opened his mouth, the words that would be released came off so damn condescending.

Noelle was often partnered with him whenever they had a project to work on. Of course, he was hard working and he did the project with Noelle near flawlessly. But my word, none of that mattered when he came off so self-obsessed due to his grades. If she had the choice, she would avoid being with him for school work so often, but she learned to put up with his behavior, no matter how self righteous he was.

Kris on the other hand, couldn't stand the bothersome, ego-maniacal bird! When Berdly rejected the idea of Kris being his project partner on the grounds of him apparently not being smart enough to earn an A grade, his blood boiled. If the classroom was empty (or at least, if Ms. Alphys wasn't there), Berdly would've been on the floor with a black eye, maybe a broken beak. You see, Kris knew Berdly was only strong in the academics department, not in the physical field. If Berdly and Kris somehow got into a physical fight, Kris knew he would be able to beat Berdly up easily. But the most Kris could do in the classroom is give a snarky response to Berdly whenever he would get big headed, resulting in some laughs from his fellow classmates. One time, even Ms. Alphys had to walk out of the room because of something Kris said. He didn't know exactly why, but he was sure it was because Alphys knew it would be inappropriate to laugh.

Behind Kris was Susie, once a feared bully to the classmates (well actually, she still was), now one of Kris' close friends. She was at the back of the class, so a lot of the time, she wasn't paying Ms. Alphys any attention, usually on her phone like Catti or drawing on her desk. Kris took a glance back at Susie, admiring her face behind her hair as she scribbled something onto her desk. He didn't look back to the front, until he noticed Susie had looked back up and the two's eyes met.

"Dude, are you okay?" Susie whispered, low enough for Alphys not to hear. Then again, Alphys had earphones in, more than likely watching that Mew Mew Kissy Cutie thing Kris heard so much about. He responded with a quick nod, causing Susie to go back to her scribbling. Kris took notice of Noelle taking notes, her mind focused on the lesson in front of her. He remembered how much she had a crush on Susie and felt like he should give her a hand in giving her a little push into getting to know her. Kris took a small piece of paper out of his desk and with a pen on his desk, quickly wrote down a little message onto it, glancing at the front to make it look as though he was taking notes. Once he was finished, he put down his pen and took a look upon the note...

And frowned, when he realized that what he written down was an unintelligible scribble, not one bearing resemblance to any word in the English language. "Damn it." he muttered to himself as he scrunched up the paper and threw it aside. He took a fresh piece and wrote down his message, making sure to focus entirely on the message itself. Once done, he took a look at the note, happy this time that the message was now clearer.

"Meet me and Susie in the lunch hall. Kris."

He took a quick look around. Every one else seemed so focused on their work. And by everyone, Kris meant Noelle, Monster Kid and Berdly. Temmie was reading a comic book, hidden from Alphys behind a normal school text book, Alphys was too engrossed in whatever was on her computer screen to focus on the class and Catti was on her phone like usual. He couldn't see what Snowy and Jockington were doing behind him, but he didn't really care to begin with. When he was sure everyone wasn't paying attention, Kris looked over at Catti and whispered a small "Hey, Catti." at her. Her eyes didn't move from the phone screen though as she continued to text away.

Kris fidgeted in his seat, sitting up straight and his right elbow resting in his left palm, the note caught in his index and middle finger. He made a glance at Catti and clicked his tongue, causing her ears to perk and twitch at the sound. It seemed to catch Berdly's attention too, since he briefly stopped working, took a look around, mostly at the ceiling, before going back to his work, more than likely assuming the noise he heard was nothing. Catti on the other hand, was able to locate the source of the noise as her eyes raised from her phone to Kris, her disinterested expression not changing one bit.

"Hmm?" Catti replied, sounding tired, just like normal. Kris, with his free hand, firstly pointed at the note between his fingers, then pointed at her, then across to Noelle, his arm not once leaving the desk. He didn't want to be noticeable after all. Catti raised an eyebrow, clearly not getting the hint, causing Kris to repeat the actions. She let out a sigh, rolling her eyes as she now understood Kris' request. He leaned towards her, note still in his fingers, to which Catti also leaned towards him, taking the note from his fingers. Both of them returned to their normal seated positions and paused. They both wanted to make sure the transaction wouldn't get either of them into trouble with Alphys. Kris glanced back at Susie, who was no longer scribbling and sitting up straight, eyes wide open and focused on the note in Catti's hand, obviously taking interest in what was going on.

Catti then reached forward, tapping Noelle on the shoulder. The deer girl briefly stopped working and looked back at the cat, who held the note to her. Noelle took the note and after moving her pencil case to hide the note from prying eyes such as Alphys or Berdly (God forbid), she opened up the note and quietly read it to herself. She then looked back at Kris, who silently gave her a thumbs up, his eyes visible behind his hair.

"Still making notes for your girlfriend Noelle, huh Kris?" a voice whispered in front of him. Kris turned his head from Noelle to Berdly, who had apparently noticed Noelle looking at Kris and was now turned to face Kris himself. "Oh God no, not him." Kris thought to himself before Berdly continued, a smug smile plastered onto his face. "You keep that up, it'll be the ONLY thing you'll end up passing in this class!"

Kris had hoped Berdly wouldn't notice him passing the notes to Noelle, so it pissed him off when he heard Berdly speak to him like that. Noelle seemed to have caught some of Berdly's remark as well, as she was blushing profusely, possibly at the mention of her being Kris' girlfriend. Kris sighed before whispering back one of his usual quips.

"Well, at least I'll be passing something Berdly, which is more than can be said for you and gym class."

Noelle giggled a little at the remark and Kris noticed Monster Kid stifle a laugh, seemingly after listening in to their conversation. Berdly on the other hand, looked offended at the remark. If the classroom was empty, he could've stood up and swung a fist at Kris. Not that it would change the outcome, he'd still be on the floor with Kris standing over him. But anyway, the blue bird nerd raised a finger to point at the human, seemingly about to say something in retaliation, but after a pause, he apparently couldn't think of anything as he growled to himself, putting his finger down and turning back to face the front.

* * *

The lunch hall was crowded as usual for a school day like this. A lot of the students and teachers were seated somewhere in the room, either eating their lunch or talking with their friends. Some were even talented enough to multitask both of those actions!

Kris and Susie both sat at one table, talking amongst themselves as they ate their lunch. Kris had a small paper bag with a single sandwich and a piece of the pie Toriel had cooked the day before. Susie on the other hand, had a small tray of what looked like some sort of meat pie with mashed potatoes and a few selection of vegetables, although given how a majority of school cafeteria food would look, you wouldn't find it appealing to look at, let alone eat. Maybe that was why Susie wasn't eating much of it, or maybe she was just so engrossed in her conversation with Kris.

They were so focused on their conversation that they almost didn't notice the deer girl when she took a seat next to Kris. "Hey Kris, you wanted to see me?" Noelle asked her friend as she sat down, her hands holding a plastic tray of pretty much the same thing as Susie. Kris nodded his head with a simple "Mmm hmm." before gesturing to Susie. Noelle's eyes glanced over to where Kris had gestured and upon meeting eyes with Susie, her face suddenly turned red, obviously indicating that she didn't notice her at first when she sat down.

"Hey there Noelle." Susie said nonchalantly, a smirk growing on her face. "Kris has told me a lot about you." she continued, making Noelle's blush even redder. She never expected her crush to be interested in speaking to her, let alone saying her name! "S-S-Susie! I didn't expect you to be...!" Noelle began, her voice full of panic before Susie laughed. "Noelle, chill. I'm not gonna do anything to you. Kris told me between classes that you wanted to get to know me more and I thought it would be awesome to meet you." the dinosaur explained, causing the deer girl to calm down. She was still a little shaken up about seeing her crush face to face. I suppose anybody would be.

"Yeah, that was why I gave that note to you. I know how much you want to get to know Susie, so I figured why not have you both meet in person?" Kris added, gently holding his friend's forearm to comfort her. "It's not like she's gonna bite your face off if you look at her funny." He added, glancing over at Susie. Susie paused before replying "Y-yeah! I don't actually bite people's faces off. I use more of a threat to people who piss me off. Very rarely do I actually do it."

"W-what happened last time you did that?" Noelle asked her. Susie was about to open her mouth and explain, but quickly shut it upon noticing Kris slowly shaking his head at her. "You... Actually, it's probably best you don't know Noelle." she said. Kris then removed his hand from Noelle's arm as he spoke. "Like I said yesterday, she's rough around the edges, but she's really nice once you get to know her." He said.

"Didn't you also say she was mean-spirited?" Noelle asked him, causing Susie's smile to drop. "Kris... out of all the things you could've described me as, why did you go with mean-spirited? You just said I'm nice once you get to know me!" Susie queried, feeling a little hurt. Kris raised his hair from over his eyes to look Susie in her eyes. "C'mon Susie, you picked me up by the shoulder and slammed my back into a locker. You're lucky that all I had from that impact was a bruise." Kris replied back, Noelle covering her mouth in shock.

"Oh my God Kris! And I thought it was bad, actually seeing it happen right outside our classroom!" Noelle exclaimed. She then paused, as she thought back to the day before, the events leading up to Kris and Susie missing that class and the horrors that she saw.

* * *

"So, does everyone have a...?"

Alphys was starting her lesson like normal. Noelle sat in her usual place, in the front row desk, furthest from the door to the classroom. Next to her was Berdly, whilst Catti was behind her. She was worried that Kris wasn't going to arrive that day, since the project the class was going to work on was very important to their final grade. If he missed this class, then he would struggle for the rest of the year, just to catch up. Thank goodness she was there to help him, mostly with his homework assignments. She would give him a hand with the project itself, but Berdly already made the declaration that she would be working with him. She would've spoken against it, but all she could do was curse her timid nature.

A loud click took everyone's attention from Alphys as everyone turned to the door, which had opened, revealing Kris standing in the doorway. "Sorry I'm late." Kris said to Alphys as he walked into the classroom, closing the door behind him. Alphys, who seemed quite shocked seeing him, could only reply with a "Oh... K-Kris...! We thought you weren't coming today!".

Kris glanced over at her, his eyes visible behind his hair. "Yeah, it was my fault. I must've forgot to set my alarm last night and I overslept. Nothing serious. Do we have any assignments today?" Alphys seemed to flinch a little upon meeting Kris' eyes, though she tried her best to hide it. She wasn't sure if it was just that Kris' eyes looked so uncanny compared to other kids (especially considering there were no other humans in her classes), or if it was just the lighting in the classroom that made him look off, with his hair casting a shadow over the top half of his face so that when he did reveal his eyes, they gave off the appearance that they were glowing, but there was something there when Kris glanced at her that gave off a sort of... foreboding vibe, like Kris was waiting for a sign of weakness from Alphys, so that he may pounce on her like an animal on its prey.

She paused briefly, maybe trying to regain her composure, before she answered. "We're doing group projects this month... Uhhhh... so, walk around and find a partner, okay?", the response Kris gave back was a simple "Hmm." as if he had heard her say this a thousand times before.

Noelle could only watch as Kris moved around the classroom, asking different students if they'd like to be his partner. The first classmate he asked was Temmie, who replied that she "already have partner", placing a black and white hard boiled egg onto her desk with some unforeseen white appendage a few seconds later. Even Kris seemed confused as he looked upon the egg, but sighed and moved on. Monster Kid turned him down, since he already partnered with Snowy and Jockington and Catti were already partners, although Kris had the feeling that he was gonna end up doing most of the work between them while Catti was... well, Catti.

Noelle heard Kris sigh before walking up to Berdly, next to her. While she didn't hear the conversation Kris had with the others, she clearly heard the conversation between Kris and Berdly. Kris walked up to him, despite Noelle shaking his head at him telling him not to. Either he didn't see her or he ignored her as he reached an arm out and tapped Berdly's shoulder, drawing his attention. "Oh no, here it comes." Noelle thought to herself as she saw Berdly grow his almost trademark smug smirk on his lips.

"Ah, Kris. Late again, I see." Berdly began. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Do you have a partner or not?" Kris interrupted him, clearly getting annoyed. Berdly's eyes opened wide in faux surprise. "Hmm? You need a partner? Sorry, I'm already partners with the 2nd smartest student." he said, the smugness not once leaving his voice. To add insult to injury, he also used his thumb to point over to Noelle upon mentioning her being second smartest, possibly to drive his point home. Kris glanced over at Noelle, who could only look apologetically at Kris and whisper "I'm so sorry Kris.", to which Kris replied with holding his hand up to her, as if to say "Don't worry about it." to her.

"Though... wait!" Berdly suddenly spoke up, getting Kris' attention. "Kris, now that I think about it, your unique skill set might help a LOT on this assignment!" he added, sounding upbeat and hopeful. Kris also looked just as hopeful as he asked him "Really?", noticing too late that Noelle was quickly moving her arms in a horizontal motion while whispering "No! No!" at him. It was only when Kris heard a "Pfft, NOT!" from Berdly, did he realize what Noelle was trying to warn him about. "I actually want to get an 'A'!" Berdly finished. Kris glanced down at him, a dirty smug look plastered onto his face. If it was him and Kris alone in that room, it would've been Kris' fist plastered against Berdly's stupid face! Kris could only point at him, trying to think of something in return, but gave up as he dropped his finger with a slight growl and walked over to Noelle, Alphys only watching from where she stood with a apologetic look on her face, either unable or unwilling to help out. Kris only hoped it was the former.

"I'm really sorry Kris, he had already asked me to be his partner before you arrived." Noelle explained. Kris smirked a little. Despite saying that Berdly asked her, he knew what really happened. "Did he actually ask you or did he announce it again like last time?" Kris asked her. Noelle paused, not wanting to escalate the situation. She glanced over at Alphys before she had an idea. "Hey Kris, umm... I could ask Ms. Alphys if we could make a group of three! I'll ask if you're sure." Noelle explained.

Kris looked back at Berdly, who seemed to have heard Noelle's suggestion. He glanced up to look Kris in the eye. When the two made eye contact, Berdly slowly shook his head and mouthed the words "Don't do it." at him. Kris smirked back. This was his chance to get back at Berdly for all the BS that he gave to him, not just today, but throughout the school year. Kris turned back to Noelle and said "Yeah Noelle, please do.", earning a "No!" whisper from Berdly.

"OK, I'll ask!" Noelle replied, turning to face Alphys. "Noelle, we don't-!" Berdly began to protest before Kris interrupted him. "She didn't ask you Berdly. Keep your fat mouth shut." Noelle, having a strong feeling things were about to escalate, quickly called out to the teacher. "Ms. Alphys! Umm, is it OK if we have groups of three?" Berdly quickly reacted in shock to this, as he spluttered out a quick "Hey! I do NOT approve of this! ABORT!!", adding in the last command like a robot. Kris, who had a smile on his face, quickly turned to face the nerdy bird, his smile melted off at this point. "Quiet!" Kris demanded from him, causing the other classmates to take notice, as he turned back to face Ms. Alphys. "I'm sorry Noelle, what were you saying?" Alphys asked her, somehow not hearing Noelle's question the first time.

Noelle opened her mouth, but Berdly quickly butted in. "She was just saying we're FINE being alone!" Kris turned back to the bird, pure venom in his eyes and his teeth gritted together. "Shut up!" He barked at Berdly, causing him to jump a little. It might've been possible that Alphys and Noelle jumped at this too. The other students looked on in shock, Catti seemed to have stopped texting and was holding her phone horizontally, possibly aiming the phone's camera at the two in hopes she'll catch a fight between Kris and Berdly. "Actually, I just wanted to know if..." Noelle said quickly, wanting to ease the situation. She felt as though a fight was inevitable between the two boys and wanted to do her best to diffuse the situation, however she was so afraid of the possibility of a fight breaking out, her voice could barely be heard to Ms. Alphys. It also didn't help that Noelle had NEVER seen Kris get this angry before all the time she's known him.

"Noelle, can you PLEASE speak up?" Alphys asked her. She was trying to put some authority into her voice, but it was clear that she was just as frightened as Noelle was. "I-." Noelle began. However, Berdly, yet again, tried to change the situation by stealing the words out of Noelle's mouth and changing them to benefit him alone. "Noelle was just saying that-!" Berdly began, before Kris, to the shock of everyone around him, grabbed a glass of water from Alphys' desk and threw the contents at the bird. Most of the water ended up on Berdly's button-up shirt, but some of it caught him in his face, temporarily blinding him. "Kris!" Alphys spoke up, intending on scolding him, but she suddenly backed down when Kris, almost robotically, turned to face her. Again, that foreboding vibe came back in full swing, causing her to back off. Noelle sat shocked at the events going on beside her. She knew that at this point, a fight was gonna happen.

"You know, just because you're the smartest kid in the school doesn't mean we all wanna hear you smart mouth the rest of us, bird brain!" Kris snapped, Berdly looking over the water damage on his shirt. "This is my favorite shirt, Kris! Do you have any clue how long it's gonna be until this drys?!" Berdly yelled back, his voice, once filled with snark and arrogance, now replaced with almost total fury. "Guys! We don't need to fight over this!" Noelle spoke up, afraid but still trying her best to stop the fight before it starts. Kris seemed to have the perfect comeback ready, as he quickly spun back to face him and say "I don't know. Probably the same amount of time it takes for you to keep your damn mouth shut! Then again, I guess you wouldn't know that, considering how often you run your mouth about your grades, as if they mean anything!", getting a collective gasp from Alphys and Noelle, an "Oooh!" from the rest of the class and a small laugh from Jockington, WAY at the back of the room behind Catti, who was still holding her phone recording them both.

Then Berdly did something nobody else thought he would do; he stood up from his seat, his height matching that of Kris, who was staring daggers into his eyes. "I'll have you know that the grades I've gotten during my time at this school will get me into the best colleges and universities once I leave this place!" Berdly shouted into Kris' face, a finger pressed hard against Kris' chest, poking it with certain syllables for added emphasis. "Berdly! Don't-!" Noelle shouted at him, trying to defuse the argument between her best friend and her work partner, Kris was too quick on the reply before she could finish though. "Maybe so, but at least I'm not putting down others like you do when I talk about my grades! So unless you have something better to say to my face, I would suggest you sit back down and shut the fu-!"

Kris' tirade was sharply interrupted by a loud bang from the door to the classroom, followed by a tense silence. Everybody's attention turned to it and upon seeing her, almost everyone's collective blood within the room turned cold. Even Alphys, who just a few seconds ago, was trying to settle things down between Kris and Berdly, was now cowering in fear at this new face that just walked in. "H... hi Susie." Alphys greeted Susie, her voice now a cowering whisper.

Susie took one step into the classroom, all eyes wide and on her. Berdly's face had gone pale, Catti quietly stopped recording her video and put her phone away and Noelle's heart was racing. Kris on the other hand, held virtually no reaction to her, almost as if there wasn't a trace of fear in his body. Susie took a long glance at everyone in the room, her eyes invisible behind her hair, much like Kris'. "...Am I late?" she asked, her voice deep and rough, looking over at Alphys. The sound of her voice was almost fitting for her, given her demeanor and her grand entrance. Susie absolutely TERRIFIED Alphys. With Kris, him meeting eyes with her gave off a foreboding vibe in her, but she knew that Kris wouldn't think about hurting her in any way shape or form. Meeting eyes with Susie on the other hand, gave off a sense that she was in danger. It was as though if Alphys dared to make one wrong move and piss off Susie, then the purple girl would have NO problems seriously hurting her. Maybe she'd even KILL Alphys if she was especially pissed off and lucky enough to find a weapon.

"Ohh, n-no! You're fine! W-we were just, uh... ch-choosing partners for the next group project, and..." Alphys began to explain, quickly looking over the classroom, all eyes focused on her instead. So much so, that they didn't even notice Susie reach for something below the blackboard, grab it and put the object in her jacket pocket. Her eyes briefly locked with Kris, before turning back to Susie, ending her talk with a quick "Ummm, Susie, you're with Kris!". The purple monster girl looked over at Kris and the two's eyes met through their hair. To Susie, Kris was just another student who had no major importance to her, not that she cared anyway. But to Kris, something clicked in his head upon meeting eyes with her. He didn't know at the time, but this was the start of something more between the two. "...Great." Susie muttered, before she walked over to her seat, behind Kris' right at the back.

Another tense round of silence followed before Alphys spoke up again, this time talking to Kris and Berdly. "And ummm... Kris, if you would like to return to your seat please? I w-would like to speak to you and Berdly after class." she said. Berdly sat back down as Kris walked to the front of his desk, looking Berdly dead in the eyes, venom still present in them. "You say the wrong things to someone one day, they're gonna beat the shit out of you." Kris whispered in an angry tone through gritted teeth. Berdly didn't say anything back, he just curled his feathered hand upwards at the human, giving him the finger, putting it down a few seconds later. Kris, still glaring daggers at him, moved passed his desk and sat back down at his own.

The tense silence came back for round 3 after Kris sat down. Even though Kris and Berdly didn't have that fight in there, they might as well had since there was still a lot of tension in the air. "N-now that everyone's here and we've all c-calmed down, I'll write the assignment!" Alphys announced. She walked behind the desk, intending to write on the blackboard, but when she reached for the chalk she had, she was surprised to find the holder empty. She had a quick look on the floor in case they had somehow fallen out, but there was nothing. "Uh... has anyone seen the chalk? This is the third time it's gone missing and... y-you all know I can't start class without some!" She began, causing everyone to start looking around at the other students, under their desks and all over the floor. Everyone, except Susie, who was sitting in her chair, looking nonchalant about the situation.

After a few seconds, everyone looked back at the front. None of them found it, either showing it by out right saying it or by shrugging. "H-how about this? If no one speaks up... e-everyone gets in trouble!" Alphys said. Berdly could only smirk, Catti rolled his eyes and Jockington could be heard snorting and giggling a little. Pretty clear indications from the class that Alphys couldn't make the whole class in trouble. She could barely get Berdly and Kris to behave a few minutes ago! "A... anyone? P... please?" Alphys begged in a pathetic manner.

"Hey, there might be a box in the supply closet..." Noelle spoke up, finally finding the voice she desperately needed when Kris and Berdly were fighting. "Miss Alphys, why don't Susie and I...?" she continued, but for some reason, Noelle's voice trailed off, a crimson blush slowly appearing on her face. Without any other details, Alphys was left on her own to fill in the blanks. "G-good idea, Noelle! Susie, s-since you came in last... why don't you go get it for me?" Alphys suggested. Kris turned around to watch Susie's reaction, who sat there not saying another word. She was quiet for a while before she replied with a bored sounding "Whatever.", proceeding to get out of her desk, walk to the door, open it and leave the classroom, the door slamming shut behind her with the same amount of force she had when she first arrived in the room.

"And K... Kris? Can you go with her and make sure she... um, actually gets it? And, um, stays out of trouble?" Alphys then asked Kris. He replied with a shrug and a simple response.

"Alright, but if anything happens to me, you're gonna be held responsible."

Kris then stood up and made his way to the door. "Thanks Kris! See you later!" Alphys called after him as he walked out of the room. After a few seconds, Alphys turned to Noelle. "Now Noelle, before Berdly and Kris had their little... disagreement, w-what were you trying to ask me?" she asked, Berdly glanced over, his face with a tired expression, as if to say "Are we really going over this again?" without any words. Noelle looked over at Berdly before answering. "I was trying to ask... if it was okay, if me, Kris and Berdly worked together as a group of three. But... seeing as how hostile the boys get with each other, I guess that's out of the question by this point."

"W-well... like you said, it might be a little late now." Alphys began. She turned to face Berdly, whose smart ass smirk had returned to his face, now hearing that Kris wouldn't be a part of him and Noelle's group. Alphys glared at him briefly before continuing to speak with Noelle. "But if it makes you feel any better Noelle, if I had heard your request the first time, I would've allowed you to work in threes with Berdly and Kris."

Berdly raised in shock with a "Huh?!" at Alphys answer, while Noelle smiled at the notion. Once it all registered to him, he sighed, resting his head in his palm. "Oh, this is completely ludicrous. When has Kris ever put in effort to the class work?" Berdly protested, sounding more bored than frustrated, even though he tried to pull the latter mood off. Noelle looked over and replied with an annoyed "Oh shush Berdly!"

Alphys then turned to Berdly, seeming to want to say a few words as well. "As much as Kris acted out of order a few minutes, h-he did have a point about you bragging about your grades. Y-you might be one of the highest working students in the class but..." she said before trailing off, apparently having run out of words to say to the nerd. "Damn right I am! Do you know how long it took me since the beginning of the school year to get to where I am academically now? My parents had put me through multiple contests in various subjects during 5th grade. At first, I thought it was pointless, but then I learned that the more smarter you got, the better your chances in life are. By the time I left that school and came here, I knew that school's curriculum, front to back, forwards, backwards, etcetera, etcetera! You think that Kris, or anybody else, takes that into consideration? They don't. Need I remind you, that Kris only got into this school, because his mom, Ms. Toriel, got a job here and has worked in this school for the last 4 years, teaching the kindergarteners up to the second grade!" Berdly ranted, the only response he was getting for his speech being groans of annoyance and eye rolls from the other students.

"Are you finished?" Noelle asked him, clearly frustrated that Berdly was acting so self-entitled. "I mean, I know Kris got here because of his mom, but that doesn't mean-."

BANG!

A sudden and loud bang from outside the room interrupted Noelle's response, startling her and Alphys, followed by some light rattling sounds. It almost sounded like something large had slammed into the lockers outside the classroom. Everyone's attention, which was focused on Berdly and Noelle, suddenly jerked to the door where Kris and Susie had walked out of earlier. Even Berdly, who a few seconds ago was acting so high and mighty, was now glancing at the door, a concerned look on his face. "W-what was that noise?" Monster Kid asked, sounding concerned. The answer came almost immediately to him and the rest of the class. It was muffled, but it was clearly Susie's voice outside.

"Quiet people piss me off."

Temmie, who was closest to the door, seemed to notice something, as she suddenly looked through and her expression dropped from her usual cheery self. "Suz... has Krisp... on locker!" she shouted in her usual broken English. The class responding to this with a cacophony of various "Huh?!" and "What?!" responses. After a few seconds, Snowy got up out of his seat, and despite Alphys warnings, ran over to the door to look out the window. He watched for a few seconds, before turning back to the class. "Par'ners, that girl's got him pinned ta' da lockers!" Snowy shouted in his make believe cowboy accent.

Almost immediately, nearly everyone in the classroom got up and walked over to the door, the only ones not there were Berdly, Alphys and Noelle. Berdly scoffed. "Typical, the moment some conflict arises, EVERYONE takes an interest." he muttered. Susie's voice from the other side of the door continued, aimed at Kris who, according to Snowy, was pressed against the locker doors that made the wall. "Come on Kris. Don't act shocked. You know it's true. Everyone's waiting for it. Everyone wants it."

Almost immediately after that phrase left Susie's lips, it seemed she did something outside to scare the classmates, since they quickly backed away from the door in terror, some with a few screams. Noelle took an interest in the sudden reaction. "What? What just happened? Did Susie hurt Kris?" she asked. Monster Kid looked back at her. "No! After she said that, she just glanced at the door's window. It was like she could see us behind it!" he said, pure horror in his voice.

Noelle quickly got up out of her seat, now fully worried. Berdly rolled his eyes at the action. "He's not in our group Noelle, just leave him be." he said, still sounding annoyed. It seemed like he didn't want anything to do with Kris at this point. But after an argument like the two had, who could blame him? Noelle turned sharply and replied with a serious tone. "He might not be in our group, but he's still my friend!" She quickly then turned back to the door and approached it, the fellow students not far behind her. What she saw was horrifying to say the least.

Susie had her hand tightly gripped on Kris' left shoulder and was holding him against the lockers just like Snowy had said she was. Kris appeared to be struggling against her grip as she spoke, although now, she was speaking so quietly to Kris, it was hard for Noelle to hear exactly what she was saying. Kris' legs kicked about as he slammed closed fists into Susie's arm, hoping in vain that the blows would weaken them enough to drop him.

"Noelle, I think some teacher will help Kris. I-I think it would be best if you-." Alphys began. She couldn't finish the sentence though, because Noelle quickly answered to the suggestion she had. "I can't just let Kris get hurt out there! I need to get out there and help him!" she said panicked, as she went for the door handle, grabbing and turning it. She pulled back, hoping the door would fly open so that she could go out there and confront Susie, even if it meant she would die in his place. But to her horror, the door wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she pulled at it. "Guys! The... the door is jammed!" Noelle screamed to her classmates in a panic. Snowy quickly moved forward and tried the door too. He was pulling hard against it, but the door wouldn't move, almost as if fate was refusing to let the class intervene with the assault outside.

"Kris..." Susie's voice said again, outside. As Snowy continued to try and open the door, Noelle could only slam her hands against the window, desperately trying to get either of their attention. "Susie! What are you doing?! Get off him!" the deer screamed through the glass, timing each hit on the window with her words. The door shook with every hit and every attempt to be opened. For a second, Susie seemed to stop what she was doing and turned her eyes towards the door, almost seeming to meet Noelle eye to eye, which caused the deer girl to cease panicking and put her in a sense of awe at how Susie's eyes looked underneath her hair. Kris seemed to notice as well, since it wasn't long until his eyes darted over to the door as well, appearing to notice Noelle also. "The door isn't budgin'!" Snowy yelled, but Noelle hadn't took notice, too entranced by Susie's gaze at her.

Still glancing over at Noelle, Susie continued, speaking to Kris. "How do you feel...?" And with that, Susie's mouth grew into a malicious smile, complete with sharp yellow teeth. Kris, who's attention was on the door, now turned back to face Susie. He stopped struggling the moment he saw the teeth, seemingly terrified. Susie turned back to look at him, dead in the eyes, ignoring Noelle. With the row of sharp teeth, Susie finished her question.

"...about losing your face?"

Those words brought Noelle back into panic mode, as she suddenly tried the handle again, desperately turning it and pulling on the door. Still, the door wouldn't move. Then, the worst of it came about, even Snowy had noticed. Susie's mouth slowly opened, pulling Kris towards her, intending to bite into his face and cause who knows what kind of damage. Noelle, upon seeing this, turned more desperately at the handle, practically screaming at Susie not to hurt Kris. Snowy quickly caught wind of it and pulled Noelle away from the door along with Alphys, despite her protests. If what she thought was going to happen WAS going to happen, the last thing Noelle needed was to actually see it. At least, that's what Snowy must've thought.

After a few seconds of struggling, Noelle broke free of Snowy and Alphys' grasps, in time to hear a soft thud outside. Noelle's heart sank at the sound, fearing the worst. "No. No, no, no, no! No! No! Please no!" she exclaimed, trying to get back to the door. Snowy quickly grabbed Noelle once again and held strong against her trying to pull away. "Noelle dear, ah can't let ya see wha'ever Susie did to ya friend! Ah dunno if ya'll be able to handle it!" Snowy said back to Noelle's protests. "Please! I need to know if Kris is okay!" Noelle pleaded with him, tears starting to brew in her eyes. Monster Kid walked up to the window and looked out. After a few seconds, he turned back to Noelle and the others.

"He is! Kris is fine! A little hurt, but he's alive!" he said. Noelle, finding another surge of adrenaline, broke free from Snowy's clasp on her and ran to the door. Susie had taken a few steps back away from Kris, who was now sitting down, clutching his shoulder where Susie was holding it, a look of pain on his face. "Alright, let's get this over with." Susie said to Kris, Noelle listening in. "We'll get more chalk, mosey back to class, and then Kris... YOU'LL do our project." she explained, pointing a finger at Kris when she mentioned the project. Noelle scowled at Susie. How was it fair that they were assigned projects, and immediately, Susie makes Kris do the work?! What was she planning to do during that time?! "How does that sound?" Susie asked, putting her finger down, before Noelle could make another thought.

Kris removed his hand from his shoulder. "I think that you're-!" Kris began, possibly with the intent to insult her based on the angry tone of his voice, before Susie interrupted him, holding out her hand to him. "Don't bother answering. If you haven't gotten it by now, your choices don't matter." Susie said, almost matter of factly. She then took a few steps forward, down the corridor, stopping briefly. "Let's go freak." Susie said over her shoulder at him. She then proceeded to walk off as Kris stood up, trembling a little. Once he stood up fully, he placed his hand on his back, presumably trying to ease some of the pain from being slammed into the lockers.

Noelle saw that Kris mouthed something to Susie, but she couldn't tell what it was. Besides, Susie was probably out of ear shot to hear him. Kris took a minute and turned to face Noelle through the window. He looked a few seconds before speaking directly to her through the window. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." he said, giving some reassurance to his friend. He then tried to ignore the pain of his back, as he quickly went after Susie down the corridor. Noelle, feeling thankful that Kris was okay, turned back, sighed a breathe of relief and sat back down in her chair.

* * *

"Okay, you got me there. And hey, I said I was sorry this morning!" Susie argued to Kris, who had finished the sandwich and was now focused on the pie Toriel had baked the night before. This appeared to snap Noelle out of her memory. Horrifying, considering what could have happened with Kris being with Susie. "Yeah, but it still scared the life out of me! And don't get me started on the bruise you gave me! You know how difficult it was to explain to my mom that I got it while playing soccer with you?" Kris replied back to her, a mouth full of pie. Noelle perked up at this mention.

"Kris, you don't play soccer though." she added. Kris swallowed the pie he had eaten and turned to Noelle. "Honestly, if my mom figured out that I got that bruise from her, she wouldn't want me anywhere 10 feet from her." he replied, referring to Susie. There was an awkward silence that hung over the table after Kris stated that fact. It seemed like the three weren't sure where to take the conversation after all of that build up. After a few minutes, Kris cleared his throat, still intent on starting up a conversation between Noelle and Susie.

"Hey Noelle, did you hear that new album?" Kris asked Noelle, who turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "Hmm? What new album?" She asked him. Kris gently nudged Noelle's arm as he replied. "You know, that new album by that band you like? 60 Minutes to Saturn?" With the mention of the band, Susie, who was focusing on the mashed potatoes, looked up to face Noelle. "You like 60 Minutes to Saturn?" she asked in surprise, dropping her fork onto the lunch tray. Noelle jumped a little at the sound of the question, turning to Susie with her face flushed red. "Y-yeah. They're... one of my favourite bands. Are you-?" she began to ask, when Susie's face lit up. "Dude! I love that band! I used to blast their music out my radio all the time when I was a kid!" she exclaimed, her voice being similar to a child telling their parents about meeting a celebrity.

Kris smiled to himself. He knew that shared interests were key to starting and keeping friendships, and right now, the girls found something they had in common. "Really?" Noelle said, now having found some confidence. "Yeah! I remember when they first got that big hit a few years ago! I think it was called... damn it! What was it called?!" Susie said in excitement, which turned to frustration upon losing track of what the song's title was. After a few minutes of thinking, she then looked up at Noelle and spoke. "Here, the melody went something like this." She then began to mimic playing a guitar while humming a heavy sounding guitar rift. Sure, maybe her voice wasn't doing any favours for the melody, but it seemed Noelle recognised the melody from Susie's humming of it.

"Oh! It was called... umm... 'Born Unalive'!" Noelle said. Susie stopped, slamming her hand onto the table, the sound bringing everyone's attention to them. "Yeah! That's it! I love that song!" Susie said, pure excitement filling her mind. Noelle smiled. "I do too! When we were 13, Kris and I would blare that song through our radios and rock out to it in our bedrooms!" Noelle said, pulling Kris into a side hug, all the while sounding just as excited as Susie. She quickly calmed down as she added with a blush "Although, we had to tone it down when our parents came up and complained. Mostly Ms. Dreemur, my mom and dad knew I was going through a kind of punk phase." Kris smirked at the memories.

As the two girls discussed the band, Kris thought back to when the two would rock out to the band. The two would go up to one or the other's rooms, put in the CD the song was on, which was named 'A Chaotic Order', probably the best oxymoron for an album title that Kris had ever heard, skip straight to track number 3 and turn the volume up to levels that surprising enough, weren't damaging to the two's ears. He remembered they'd belt out the song's lyrics, scream the words to the chorus of the song with front man Gerald Lato's recorded vocals and dance quite aggressively to the music itself. Kris would even pick up an object like a bat or a piece of wood and air guitar with it once the electric guitar solos kicked in. Sometimes, if they were doing this at the Dreemur residence, Asriel would join their little bedroom concert, although if this were the case, it would be a matter of time until Toriel would knock on the door, asking them to turn the music down.

Kris snapped back to reality when Susie called out to him. "Yo Kris! Noelle was wondering about their new album!" Kris took a second. "Huh? Oh yeah! They're experimenting with new sounds on it, but if you ask me, I like their older stuff a lot more than their newer stuff. I mean, do you remember their third album 'Animal Kingdom', the one with the roaring leopard face on it? Man, that's a heavy and awesome album!" Kris explained. Susie raised her hand for a high five, which Kris returned with pleasure. "Ah hell yeah that's a rockin' album!" Susie laughed, Noelle joining in, obviously enjoying the conversation she was having with her crush. She felt even more happy that the two shared some interests.

"You know Kris, I think it's awesome you've become friends with Susie. I wish I was as confident as you." Noelle said to her human friend. Susie looked at her, raising her hair so that Noelle could see her yellow eyes. The deer's heart skipped a beat upon meeting eyes with the reptile. "You seemed pretty confident around me when you brought 60 Minutes to Saturn up." She said. Noelle's cheeks once again, turned red. "Y-yeah! But, to be honest, I'm actually a really shy girl." Noelle explained. Her voice seemed to drop into a saddened tone as she continued to speak. "I don't talk to people unless they speak to me first. Even then, they don't hang around too long because of my shyness. They think I'm just antisocial, when I'm really not. Kris was the only person who was willing to put up with my... anxieties. He's been my best friend ever since kindergarten."

Susie took in everyword that Noelle said, so she was surprised when she found herself feeling sorry for the deer girl. "Damn, I couldn't imagine something like that happening to me." Susie muttered, resting her head in her hand. A few seconds passed, before Susie had an idea. "Hey Noelle." She said, attracting Noelle's attention. "Me and Kris know someone that I think you'll get a long perfectly with."

"Really?" Noelle asked, her interest peaked. Susie replied with a nod before continuing. "Yeah, he's a really sweet guy. He's a little shy around strangers, just like you. And his cheeks flush red just like yours do all the time." She added, a small laugh added to that last comparison of Ralsei and Noelle. Noelle quickly placed her hands on her cheeks, feeling they were warm. She blushed even harder upon realising this. "Oh! W-well... when can we meet him?" She asked.

Susie quickly stood up. "We can meet him right now. To be honest, we've seen him a few times already and it's been a good few weeks since we last saw him. How long has it been Kris?" She asked. Kris placed a hand on his chin. "I think about nearly 3 weeks?" he answered. Susie then continued with a "Yeah! So I think we should go and see him right now!" she said. Kris stood up also, shortly followed by Noelle. Although she was getting up a lot slowly, as though unsure about Susie's plan. "What, right now? But we've got another lesson to attend!" Noelle protested. The purple reptile just gave a "Tsss!" at this, while Kris added in his two cents. "C'mon Noelle. Next lesson is religious education. None of us are religious, so why does it matter to us?" he said, as he took Noelle's hand and led her out of the lunchroom, Susie following behind. "But... what if someone catches us out of class?!" Noelle protested once more. "We'll just tell them we have to leave in a hurry! Just say you've got a family emergency!" Susie said.

* * *

The three of them stood in front of the closet door. Kris and Susie were about to head back into the Dark World with their friend Noelle. The anticipation was killing them. Noelle was more confused though. "So... this friend. He's in the school closet?" the deer asked. Kris held out his hand, palm down, and rotated his wrist, causing his hand to wobble side to side. "Kind of. We went through here and after some things that we can't explain, we kind of met him." Almost as sudden as Kris finished his speech, the door swung open, startling Noelle. She looked around, looking for a source of a breeze, but found none. "How did the-?" Noelle began to ask, but stopped when she noticed the school seemed to get darker. After a few seconds, the floors and the walls had turned blue with shadows close to the ceiling. "H-how did it get so dark suddenly?" Noelle said, concern in her voice.

Even Susie seemed a little on edge. "Me and Kris don't know either." She explained, looking around at the darkened school. Kris took a good look around too. "It's like we've gone forward in time or something." After a few seconds, he looked dead ahead, into the dark closet. "Alright, let's go." Kris said, walking into the darkness. "W-Wait! We're actually going in there?!" Noelle said, panic settling in her voice. Susie took a step forward, then looked back at the deer. "Yep. You're more than welcome to wait out here if you don't wanna come with us." she explained, before turning back and walking after Kris. Noelle was all alone in the corridor, which now looked alien to her with the new colour scheme. She couldn't help but sense the feeling of dread wash over her. "Guys! Wait for me!" She finally exclaimed, running after the two.

The only light coming in was from outside, which had now turned bright for some odd reason. Pieces of paper lay on the floor, causing Kris to smirk. He knew exactly what was coming up. Susie knew as well. Noelle on the other hand, had no clue what was about to happen. "We'll need to move further in." Kris said, causing Noelle, who this whole time was observing the darkness, to look ahead at him. "Ahead? This closet isn't that big." Noelle said. She then noticed Susie's face creating a smirk, very similar to Berdly's. "Just you wait." she said, confidence in her voice.

The three began their trek into the closet. As they walked, Noelle noticed how big this closet was, Kris and Susie's reactions hadn't changed one bit while they walked in. "How big is this thing?" Noelle asked nervously, to which Susie shrugged. "We don't know. We didn't get far into this place before it happened." Noelle stopped upon processing what Noelle just said. "Before what happened?" she asked. The two didn't respond. Instead, Kris stopped a few feet in. "Okay, this far should do it." he said.

"Guys, if you're playing a joke on me, this isn't funny." Noelle said, her voice shaking slightly from her nervousness. Susie turned to face her, her eyes almost glowing in the darkness. "We're not joking with you. But if you really don't believe us, you're more than welcome to go back." She explained with a smile. Noelle was starting to get annoyed now by these crypic answers from the duo. "What is it that I should believe?!" she asked, frustrated, placing her arms outward. It was then she realised she couldn't feel any walls around her. "Okay, this is freaking me out! I'm leaving!" Noelle finally muttered before turning around to walk out. Susie watched her as she proceeded towards the door, the smirk still plastered on her face.

Noelle could see the school corridor through the closet door. Before she had a chance to step back into the real world, the door to the closet suddenly slammed shut, leaving the trio in near total darkness. Kris and Susie stopped walking as Noelle jumped back. "W-what just happened?!" she exclaimed in shock. Moving quickly, she ran to the door, placing a hand upon it. "Hey! We're still in here! Let us out!" She screamed at the door, desperately banging on it with her fists, hoping to get someone's attention. "It's funny Noelle, that was the exact same reaction Susie had to this happening the first time we were in here." Kris said to her. The deer quickly stopped the banging and looked back at them. "Huh? What happened the first time?"

As if to answer the question, the papers on the ground beneath her feet began to shake. She looked down in shock as she backed away from the door, back into Susie and Kris. Kris took one look at the papers and said "Okay. Now Noelle, I need you to trust me on this.", causing her to look back at him. "Kris, what is going on?!" she asked, worry starting to settle in. Susie suddenly took the timid girl's hand, causing her to blush upon realising. "S-Susie...?" Kris stood in front of Noelle to make sure she could hear him. "Listen to me, I need you to take my hand." He said to her.

Noelle shook her head. "No, no! What if we get hurt because of this?!"

"You're not going to get hurt. You can trust me. I wouldn't lie about something like this." Kris said, holding out his hand for her. Noelle waited a few seconds, taking in the situation before reaching her free hand out and placing it in Kris', who then moved to stand next to her. "Okay, now whatever happens between now and when we get to the Dark World, do NOT let go of my hand! You hear me Noelle, don't let go of my hand!" Kris explained to Noelle.

Noelle didn't have time to ask why, before the answer came to her. The floor gave away, causing the pieces of paper to plummet into the darkness below. It moved upwards towards the trio, who were standing in place, Susie's hand clasping onto Noelle's right hand, while her left was clasping to Kris'. Noelle panicked as she started to back away, Kris and Susie standing right where they were, no worry at all on their face. Susie looked back at the timid deer and smiled. "Don't worry. This is part of the process. It'll be over before you know it. Just don't let go!" the tough girl reassured, before the last piece of paper gave way.

Almost immediately, gravity did its job, as the three began to plummet downwards. Noelle's grip on Susie and Kris' hands tightened as she felt herself fall with them. "Don't let go! Don't let go! Don't let go!" Noelle silently repeated to herself as the darkness swallowed her and her friends. Little did Noelle know however, that this was the start of a new adventure for her. One that'll change the group's lives forever.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3: Going Back to the Dark

Kris and Susie lay upon the ground, still not used to the impact they had against it. The pain briefly surged throughout their bodies, Kris especially feeling more pain than Susie due to the bruise on his back, before it faded, almost as quickly as it appeared. After a few seconds, Kris sat up.

"Hey Susie, are you okay?" he asked his friend who was still lying down. The purple girl slowly got up, clutching the back of her head. "Y-yeah. I'm fine Kris. Back of my head hurts, but otherwise, I'm okay." she said. Susie took another set of seconds to slowly stand up and regain her bearings. Kris stood up a few seconds later, getting a good look at the Armour that now replaced his shirt, jeans and such. Ah, it felt good to be back in the metal plates, bodysuit and cape again. To him, it felt like slipping back into childhood clothes again, that had somehow remained big enough to fit him despite years of growing.

"Dude..." Susie suddenly said, with worry in her voice. "Noelle's not moving!" Kris turned to face Susie, who was now kneeling over Noelle. His friend was right; Noelle hadn't moved one limb since they landed. Susie shook her, trying desperately to wake her up, while Kris just stood there in shock. It wasn't his nor Susie's intent to kill her, if they had indeed killed her from the fall. However, all of that came to an end, when after another rough shake from Susie, Noelle groaned a little and began to move her arm slightly, causing Susie to stand back up and take a step back also.

The deer raised up an arm and placed an open palm against the ground, repeating the process with the other arm, before using them both to lift herself back onto her feet. "Oh goodness. My head is killing me!" Noelle muttered to herself once she was standing. She then placed her index and thumb between her eyes, presumably trying to relieve some kind of pain she experienced from the fall. It was around this time, she noticed that Kris and Susie were looking at her, surprise on their faces. "What? What is it? Is there something on my face?" Noelle asked the two. They didn't give a response, but when she placed her arm up, possibly to try and remove what she thought was on her face, she noticed that her sleeve was no longer black with a white cuff. Instead, it was pure white and the cuff seemed longer than how she remembered it.

"Wha-?" Noelle started in confusion. Kris and Susie smirked as Noelle looked down at what she was wearing. Gone was the red and green checkered sweater and gray romper. In its place was what appeared to be a long white robe with some black ball shoes. "Wha-?! What happened to my clothes?!" Noelle asked in a panic, before looking up the two in front to her. "What happened to YOUR clothes?!" she sputtered as she took in her friends' new looks. Her eye movement was all over the place, firstly on Kris and Susie, then on her surroundings, the strands of her hair that she could see followed, which had turned from her usual Honey Blonde to a much whiter Pearl Platinum colour, and then finally, back upwards to where they had fallen from. "Where are we?! What happened to my hair?! Did you guys do something to me?! How did we-?!" she continued to ask in a blind panic, before Kris stepped forward.

"Noelle, calm down. We're safe here. You've got nothing to worry about. We're here." he said, holding onto Noelle's shoulders to calm her down further. "We don't know why our clothes and hair change when we come down here, but you'll get over how you look in time."

"Yeah. You know how freaked out I was when I saw I was wearing this?" Susie added, pointing at her own clothes. "At first, I was wondering why the hell I had changed clothes during the fall, but after a few seconds, I thought I looked pretty badass wearing them. Hell, I'd take this outfit with me back home if I could." Kris looked back at Susie and smiled. "It suits you." he said, nodding. Noelle, taking a good long look at the purple warrior and her new outfit, blushed. Kris was right. The suit she was wearing DID fit her.

"Dare I say Noelle, that white robe fits you perfectly. You look like an angel." Susie added, causing Noelle to blush even further. "Thanks Susie. It's not often I get complimented by others." Noelle said in response. This triggered a chuckle out of Susie and Kris. "I meant physically. The outfit looks like something an angel would wear, but hey, you look good too." the purple girl clarified. Noelle suddenly felt a wave of stupid run through her body. How did she not realize that's what Susie meant? Before Noelle could respond, Kris spoke up. "Anyway, let's get going. Me and Susie's friend aren't too far from here." With that, Kris led the way, Susie and Noelle following behind him.

\----

Susie's laughter echoed around the Dark World as Noelle told her about that prank she played on Kris as payback for all his little blood scares that he did on her when the two were children. Kris was still leading the way, but his arms were folded and a blush had been growing on his face, one that could rival Noelle's. He really didn't want the story to be shared, but he didn't really have the option to stop his friend.

"Wait, wait, it gets better. So after he got my hand out the blender, he was hugging me tightly and crying profusely. I swear, if you were outside in the front garden, you could hear Kris going 'Noelle, I'm so sorry! I wouldn't have done those stupid pranks if I'd know this would happen to you!' from the kitchen he was crying that loud! It took a good while to tell Kris I was fine, and he just denied crying when he realized what was going on, even though he still had tears staining his cheeks!" a giggling Noelle told Susie, much to Kris' displeasure. The two girls shared yet another laugh while Kris groaned to himself. When their laughing died down, Susie turned her attention to Kris. "Dude, I'm surprised you were that cruel to Noelle when you both were kids." she said to him.

"The pranks I pulled on Noelle were harmless! Nobody got hurt in the end." Kris protested, his arms still folded and his tone showing he was sick of hearing about it. The trio stood before a village, a castle in the far distance at the top of a staircase. Kris and Susie began their trek towards it, Noelle following behind. As the trio walked closer to the steps to the castle, they noticed a figure standing in front of the castle's doorway. To Susie and Kris, this was their friend. But to Noelle, this was a total stranger. "There he is Noelle. That's Ralsei, the friend we were telling you about." Susie said to Noelle, who walked forward to get a good look at him. "What is he doing?" Noelle asked.

Ralsei could be seen standing in one place, a yellow barrier of sorts surrounding him. He seemed to be focused on it entirely, since he didn't hear the group talking. "He must be focusing on his magic. I'm gonna go mess with him." Kris said, a smile appearing on his face. Kris walked up the steps, Noelle and Susie behind him. A few seconds later, he made it up to the top. Susie and Noelle stood back, watching Kris approach Ralsei.

Ralsei stood in one place, eyes closed, focusing all of his energy on his magic. The yellow aura glowing brightly around him, basking his green cloak and white fur in its light. Ralsei seemed to be so focused that he didn't even hear Kris walking up behind him. Even when Kris was directly behind him, not once did he bat an eye. Kris, smile still present on his face, raised a hand and quickly tapped Ralsei's right shoulder. This snapped Ralsei out of his concentration as his eye opened in shock and the aura vanished. He quickly turned around to where he felt the tapping, but Kris quickly moved to his left, staying behind Ralsei so that the goat didn't see him. Susie ducked so that Ralsei couldn't see her either, pulling Noelle down as well.

Ralsei surveyed his surroundings before turning to face the castle entrance and closing his eyes, practicing his magic once again. Kris paused for a few seconds, before making quick taps on Ralsei's left shoulder, jumping to his right when Ralsei looked. "Lancer? Is that you?" Ralsei asked the mystery tapper. He quickly spun around, trying to find this person, Kris moving behind him so that he remained behind him. Ralsei's eyes darted around, looking for who he believed to be Lancer. "If you're playing some stupid prank on me, now isn't the time! I wanna focus on my magic right now." Ralsei said to 'Lancer', slightly annoyed.

Susie giggled to herself as Ralsei took one last look around, before turning back and focusing on his magic. Kris did everything in his power to stay out of his goat friend's eyesight. The human turned to face his girl friends, trying to stifle his laughter. Susie gave the thumbs up as she mouthed "Do it again!" to him, Noelle seeing the humour behind it and giggling to herself. Kris turned back and once again, tapped Ralsei on his right shoulder. Ralsei stopped, standing perfectly still. Ralsei began to turn towards his right, prompting Kris to move left.

However, Ralsei realized what this person was doing and stopped turning to his right, quickly changing direction to rotate his body left, catching Kris off guard as their eyesight met. But the human thought quickly and embraced the goat, startling him. Before Ralsei could cry out for help, Kris whispered a simple little question:

"Did you miss me Ralsei?"

Ralsei's eyes shot as wide as they could get upon hearing such a familiar voice. "K-Kris?!" he said, shock in his voice. He knew that his friend would return at some point, but he didn't think that Kris would return to the Dark World THIS early. Ralsei, almost automatically, returned the embrace as a smile grew onto his face. "Oh my god Kris, I didn't think you'd be paying me a visit! It's been so long since we've last seen each other!", the goat boy spoke, his voice filled with elation. Kris released the two boys' hug as he spoke. "It's not just me. Susie's come back here too."

Susie revealed herself upon hearing Kris mention her, Noelle following behind her as the two walked up the steps to meet up with Ralsei. "Hey Toothpaste boy." She said to him with a casual wave. Ralsei smiled back at his friend, before noticing the new girl. The goat and the deer's eyes met and they both felt a sense of ease with each other, something they hadn't felt unless they were with Kris. "Oh! Kris, Susie, is this a new friend of yours?" Ralsei asked the two, who both nodded in response. Ralsei reached out a hand to Noelle as he spoke. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you stranger! My name is-."

"Ralsei. I overheard Susie say your name while talking about you." Noelle responded, taking Ralsei back with the quick reply. A moment of silence passed briefly before Ralsei continued. "Oh! Well, I guess that skips the name introduction on my part." he said, with a little laugh. Noelle took Ralsei's hand and shook it. "My name's Noelle. I've been friends with Kris since childhood and recently become friends with Susie. I hope the two of us can become good friends also." she said to Ralsei, causing him to blush slightly, although the smile that appeared on his face seemed to show that he was hoping him and Noelle would be good friends too. "So, how long have you known Kris and Susie, Ralsei?" Noelle asked as she released her hand from Ralsei's.

"Actually, I just met them... a few weeks ago, I believe. There was a prophecy that I'll explain later on. I just kinda met them after they arrived in the Dark World and we grew a friendship as we went along on our adventure." Ralsei said, Kris nodding with what Ralsei had said. "Adventure? What kind of adventure?" Noelle asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. Ralsei straightened out his cloak before continuing to speak. "Well, when Kris and Susie came down here, they met me in front of these doors. I showed Kris about how things worked down here, while Susie was only interested in getting back home." Ralsei explained, pointing over his shoulder at Susie, who was looking at her nails. It was anybody's guess if she was genuinely wondering how her nails looked or if she was trying to show she wasn't interested in the conversation. Kris assumed the latter as he rolled his eyes behind his hair. Ralsei then continued to speak. "After a good few hours, we came across other inhabitants of the Dark World. Some that I'm familiar with, others not so much. Before long, we ended up at the castle. We took on the King and his son managed to overthrow him!", a sense of triumph present in his voice on the last point.

Noelle paused, taking in everything that Ralsei just told her. "So... you three went through this kingdom... and overthrew the leader... so that his son could take the throne?" She asked, trying to make sense of everything. Ralsei nodded, adding in a "Don't worry, the King was a total tyrant towards his people and a horrible father to his son. Last I heard he was sent to the dungeon of the castle, before he-." That was all that Ralsei was able to say when a familiar "Ho, ho, ho!" interrupted his talking. Noelle took a quick look around, wondering where that laugh came from. Ralsei on the other hand, rolled his own eyes as he added a little muttering of "Speak of the devil." to himself.

A few seconds later, a small boy dressed in white and blue crashed in front of the group, riding a bicycle that seemed to be on fire, startling Noelle and earning yet another roll of the eyes from Ralsei. This boy had a round body with a head that bear resemblance to a teardrop. His eyes were invisible to the world due to the spade shaped shadow covering them. His mouth on the other hand was clear to the group, displaying a wide smile and a blue tongue that seemed to stick out. "Ho ho, the heroes of light have returned once again! It feels so much better when me and fluffy boy's old friends come by for a visit." the boy spoke, a clear lisp present in his voice with every 's' sound he made.

"Lancer, what did we say about using that name to refer to me?" Ralsei asked, a mixture of a bored and a scolding tone in his voice. "Oh! Are you another friend of Kris, Susie and Ralsei?" Noelle asked Lancer, causing Ralsei to immediately answer, not once changing his bored tone. "On and off. He was our enemy at one point, but now we all get along smoothly." Lancer, tongue still free out of his mouth, nodded his head in a comically exaggerated manner. Noelle and Kris giggled a little at seeing this, even the usually no nonsense Susie smirked a little at how goofy Lancer could be. "Uh-huh! Once bad guy, now...!" Lancer started up. He then paused to try and do a little spin move on his bike, maybe trying to add some flair to his big reveal.

And he probably would've succeeded... if he hadn't lost his balance and fell off of his bike, complete with a little "Ah!" upon hitting the ground. the flames on his bike being snuffed out by the dust kicked up by Lancer's rough landing, reducing it to a normal looking bicycle. Lancer quickly got up, dusting himself off. "I swear that trick worked perfectly last time I did it!" Lancer muttered to himself. He then looked towards the group and held out his arms, giving the jazz hands for good measure, as if the fall was part of his 'elaborate' act. "King of the Dark World!" he finished, his goofy grin re-plastered onto his face.

Noelle could only giggle at this as she walked up to get a good look at the king. Once she was close enough, she knelt down, becoming almost eye level with Lancer, who had put his hands down to get a look himself at this new girl. "You look pretty." Lancer said after a pause, his childish demeanor still present in his voice. Noelle blushed at this sudden compliment, Ralsei smiled at Lancer while Susie and Kris tried very hard to hold back laughter between themselves. "Well...!" Noelle could only say in pleasant surprise, placing a hand to her mouth, her giggle now upgrading to a soft chuckle to herself. Now, with that reaction, it was Lancer's turn to blush, a blue hue appearing on his cheeks through his chalk white skin. "I'm sorry, was that inappropriate to say to you?" Lancer quickly asked the doe, his voice with a tinge of guilt in it, making the king seem even more childish than he was originally.

"No, no Lancer! I don't mind you calling me pretty. I-I-If it makes you feel any better, I think you look pretty handsome yourself." Noelle said to him, once the chuckling wore away and she regained some kind of composure, adding a small head pat to her compliment. The blush on Lancer's face was quickly replaced with his usual wide toothy smile. "Well, it's a real pleasure to meet you...!" Lancer said, trailing off upon realizing he doesn't know the newcomer's name. Susie caught up on this and stepped forward. "Oh yeah, I guess we should share her name with you, Lancer. This..." Susie began, gesturing to Noelle. "...is Noelle. She's our friend from the Light World."

Noelle gave a small wave to her new short stature friend before Susie continued. "She's new to the Dark World. Would you like to take all of us to the King's Castle. I think Rouxls Kaard would be happy to meet her too." Susie finished. Kris stepped forward, standing right next to Ralsei. "Yeah, I think Noelle would enjoy her time in the Dark World more, if she got to know the area." It didn't take long until Lancer got his mind full of excitement once again. "Don't mind if I do!" he said, taking Noelle's hand and walking back down the steps with her, Ralsei following behind him. "I must say Noelle, you are gonna love meetin' lesser dad! He's a really cool guy who does puzzles in his spare time and..." Lancer proceeded to ramble as he walked away with Noelle and Ralsei behind him, until his voice could no longer be heard. Kris and Susie stood back, watching the scene play out in front of them. Once the three left their eye sight, the two that were left exchanged glances towards one another.

"Dude, I don't know if this was a good idea. You know what Lancer is like when he gets excited." Susie muttered to Kris. He rolled his eyes and exhaled, almost as if she had spoken about this non stop since they got to the Dark World. "Susie, Lancer's probably not gonna hurt Noelle. Don't forget, he's the king of the Dark World ever since me, you and Ralsei overthrew his dad from the throne. Besides, I'm sure Ralsei would be able to handle him if he does get excited again." He said as he walked down the stairs. Susie was left on her own, presumably thinking to herself about the things Kris just said. She then let out a quick "Hey Kris! Wait up!" upon realizing she was on her own and ran after Kris, down the stairway.

\----

It took a good while of walking, even with the shortcuts that Ralsei took the group through. It didn't break any of their spirits though, nor tire them out. Ralsei shared his stories about the Dark World to Noelle, Noelle shared more embarrassing stories about her childhood with Kris and vice versa, Susie shared some stories from her past and other things and Lancer shared more about the Dark World's culture and the way of life down there. Every few minutes or so, if you were nearby them as they trekked through the Dark World on their way to the castle, you'd hear either one of or all of them laughing among themselves, whether it was over something somebody said as part of a story or in response to a joke. Some of them at the expense of others, mostly jokes from Susie. She'd usually joke about Ralsei's pacifist ways or Kris' quietness. If only she knew the reasons why he was so quiet, maybe she wouldn't joke about it. But that's for later in the story.

For now, the five of them were talking, joking and laughing among themselves. They got so engrossed in their conversations that they almost didn't even realize that they had made it! The castle itself stood towering over the five of them. Of course, being Lancer's home, the aforementioned didn't react one bit to this. Neither did Ralsei, Susie or Kris. The only one that did seem to have a reaction was Noelle, who trembled a little at the size of the building they stood before. "Well, here we are!" Ralsei said, a smile creeping onto his face. "This is the castle that we were talking about. Where the King used to live as he ruled over the Dark World, before he was overthrown."

"By yours truly." Susie added, cockiness ever so present in her voice, as she took the lead, walking through the castle doors. "Now now Susie, let's not get full of ourselves. We're here to show Noelle around after all." Kris said in response. He might've had a soft spot for Susie, but he knew when she was bigging herself up for the sake of getting some sort of glory. "Plus, you're forgetting it was all three of us that overthrew the King!" he added as he followed Susie into the castle, Lancer following behind him, leaving Noelle and Ralsei outside. Noelle was still looking up towards the highest point of the castle, still taking in the size of the building. Ralsei walked up to her, placing a reassuring hand onto her shoulder.

"Don't you worry one bit Noelle. The castle might look intimidating, but the worst of what's inside has already been dealt with." Ralsei said, that smile never leaving his face. She blinked a few times before walking forward with Ralsei by her side. Although, once she took a step inside the castle, even with Ralsei's reassurance, there were a lot of things to be worried about in terms of appearance. The corridors were dark, the lighting was more suited to a dungeon more than a whole castle and the blue stone walls gave off a cold and unwelcome feeling. It absolutely suited the original king, but not so much for Lancer nor this Rouxls Kaard person that Ralsei had told her about.

There was another fair bit of time walking before the group got up to the throne room. Within said room stood a man with blue skin, long white hair and a deep blue royal suit, his face appearing to have melted into two diamond shaped eyes and a mouth that always gave the impression that he was smiling. His back was to the group, looking out of a nearby window. Even with his back to the group, Lancer was quick to notice a disappointed frown on the older man's face. "Young sire... I was starting to wondereth when thou would returneth." the man spoke, his voice, full of disappointment, also holding an almost old English sound too. Lancer took a step forward towards Rouxls Kaard.

"I... I know that I've been busy with some things and I know I did say I'd be right back so you could show me more royal duties Lesser Dad, but-." Lancer began to explain, but upon uttering the words 'Lesser Dad', he stopped, as Rouxls Kaard held out a closed fist, his index finger pointing upwards towards the ceiling, signalling him to be quiet. "Lancer my boy, we hadeth a talk about referring to me as 'Lesser dad'. Thoust know that I don't likest that name being used to describe me." The duke uttered, before lowering his finger down again. "Besides, surely thoust must understand that since thou art the new rulerest of the Dark World, there are a lot of responsibilities placedeth upon thine shoulders." He added, turning around. At first, he was focused on Lancer, his stern gaze fixed on him, but it quickly faded and was replaced with surprise when he noticed the other groups of feet with the young king, which then turned to happiness when he saw those feet belonged to Kris, Susie and Ralsei.

"Oh! The worms return from whence they had cameth! By God, it feels liketh forever since I hath last seen your faces!" Rouxls Kaard exclaimed in surprise upon seeing their faces, before regaining his composure. "Well, asideth from you Ralsei. I've seen thoust face often in the Dark World." He added with a clearing of his throat. Ralsei sighed in response before adding his response. "Nice to see you again too, Rouxls." The duke then turned his gaze to meet with Noelle's eyesight. "I musteth add, I do not remember seeing your face around hereth. Are you new here?" Rouxls asked the deer girl he had now just noticed as Lancer walked away from the group to sit upon his throne.

Noelle blushed. "Um, y-yes I am new here. My name is Noelle. Noelle Holiday, mister Rouxls." she said. With that, Rouxls Kaard quickly straightened out his back, placing his left arm behind it. "Well Ms. Holiday. It is a greateth pleasure to meet you." he said, placing his right arm onto his stomach as he bowed to her. "I do hope that thou enjoy your timeth here in the Dark World. I assume that I am correcteth in making the assumption that Ralsei, Susie and Kris hath shown you part of the worldeth you see?"

"Yes sir. They have... um... shown me around." Noelle said, her shyness ever so present in her voice. Such a new face brought about such nerves with Noelle, even though she told herself constantly that she had no reason to be nervous with her friends with her. Rouxls Kaard straightened himself back up, meeting his gaze with Noelle once more. "Ms. Holiday, there's no need to be shyeth around me. I am but a mere duke amongsteth these parts of the Dark World." he explained. "As I'm sure Lancer would've toldeth thou..." he continued, stopping to glance at Lancer, who had his usual stupid smile on his face before continuing. "Since the king was overthrown, he hadeth taken the responsibilities of being the rulerest of the Dark World. Although given how he IS stilleth a child, I make the decisions for him on his behalf...eth."

Noelle looked back at Ralsei, who nodded at her, confirming this. Kris and Susie then glanced at one another before Kris took a step forward. "Um... Rouxls? You never told us what happened to the King after we overthrew him." he asked. The smile on Rouxls' face dropped, indicating that whatever happened to the King wasn't good. That being said, it was the ex-king of the Dark World, so I guess it isn't really anything worth being concerned over. Still, the expression on Rouxl's face gave Kris a strange feeling, as if he shouldn't have asked in the first place.

Instead, the Duke sighed. "Well, if thou must really know..." he began, before glancing over to Lancer. He was too preoccupied watching a random insect flying around the room. It looked like some kind of fly, but it was hard to tell as it darted from one corner to the next, occasionally hovering in place or landing on a surface, moving a few inches and then taking flight again. Wherever it went, Lancer's non-visible eyes followed. When it zipped around the room, Lancer would snap his head to keep his view focused on the little black dot. Rouxls, seeming to be happy that Lancer was distracted, turned back to the group.

"Ever since the King was overthrown, he was senteth down to the dungeon, right at the bottomest of the castle. He spent about... 2 weeks I believe in there, trying in vainest to break out of his cell. The thing was, he shared a cell with another inmateth. His name is Jevil, possibly one of the most unstable occupants of the Dark World." He explained, adding minor details to fill Noelle in on the story. Kris, Susie and Ralsei shuddered at the mention of Jevil's name, the memories of the fight they had with him replaying in their minds. They could STILL hear his voice uttering those damned phrases like 'Chaos! Chaos!', 'Metamorphosis!' and his infamous 'I can do anything!', even weeks after their fight with him! And don't get them started on that laugh he did! Every time they thought about that laugh, it almost sounded mocking. They were snapped out of their memories when Rouxls continued.

"Well, I don't knoweth exactly what happened in that cell, but one of the Rudinns came down to the cell to check on him and they had found him laying on the cold cell floor. At firsteth, they thought he was asleep, trapped in a nocturnal prison of his mind to which only moonlight shone upon his yonder spirit. He was known to sleep long hours after being lock'ed up after all. But when they get closereth, they..." Rouxls paused, as if the simple act of retelling the story was painful to him. He tried to regain his composure before continuing. "They found that he wasn't breathing. When they checked him for a heartbeat, they foundeth that his skin has turned as cold as a snowy day in the forest. They couldn't find a heartbeat either. They had no choice, but to consider him dead."

Noelle placed a hand on her lips in shock, while Kris and Susie stood stunned. "Yes. Thoust know, they couldn't find any source of foul play. There were no fingerprints upon the victim. No sign of a struggle. Not eveneth a sign of a murder weapon. In the end, they considered the cause of his majesty's death to be an undiagnosed health problem, but between you and me..." Rouxls said, before glancing at Lancer, who was still focused on the fly, which had now landed on his hand, allowing him to have a good look at it. The duke then turned back to the group and beckoned them to come closer. Noelle took a step forward, followed by Kris and Susie. Ralsei stayed behind, already knowing what the Duke was about to confess.

"I believe that despite the lackest of evidence, Jevil had something to do with the King's death." he said, his tone hushed so that Lancer couldn't hear him. Noelle then spoke up. "Well if there was no evidence, what makes you think it was this... Jevil person?" she asked. Rouxls glanced at her before speaking. "Like I said beforeth, Jevil is a highly unstable inmate in the dungeon. He even mentions that he quoteth 'can do anything'. Normally, me and the others just assumm'ed that's just his mental state, but then I started to think that perhaps Jevil could've taken the life of our ex-King and somehow found a method of disposing any and all evidence linking him to his majesty's death! I don't know how, but I believeth that Jevil had some evidence in his cell that makes his connected to his Majesty's death that he had removed somehow and furthermore-." Rouxls rambled, before Lancer tugged at his coat, snapping him out of his train of thought.

"Hey Lesser Dad, what were you talkin' about with the visitors?" He asked, a child like naivety in his voice. To Noelle, it was adorable, despite having only met him a few minutes ago. Rouxls turned to look at the young king. "Oh it's nothing Lancer. I do believe there's a Hathy that wanted to speak with you in the other room. Why don't you go and speak to him?" He said. Lancer responded with a toothy smile as he replied with a childish "Okey-dokey!" and walked away, presumably towards this supposed Hathy. Once Lancer was once again out of earshot, Rouxls Kaard quickly turned back to the group. "One pieceth of advice I'd give you all, especially to you Ms. Holiday: do not bring the topic of the King's death up around Lancer." Noelle nodded his head, Kris followed suite, accompanied with a "Sure thing."

"I-Is Lancer sensitive to the subject of his father?" Noelle asked the duke. Rouxls paused for a second before answering. "Well... not really. I just don't want to bring such subjecteth up while he's around, otherwise he'll start asking what you think of it. And I really don't want to bringest any more hardships onto him than what he haseth already with his royal duties." After a pause, Rouxls Kaard cleared his throat. "Well! I must returneth back to my duties. I will see you all later." he said. Once finished with his statement, the duke was consumed by a beam of light. The group shielded their eyes from this beacon and once the light faded away, the group could see that the duke had vanished. Noelle seemed taken aback by the random act of magic that occurred in front of them. Kris then turned to face Noelle and added his own two cents into the talk about the previous King. "To be honest, he DID threaten to throw Lancer off the castle when we confronted him, so don't feel too bad about the king dying." he said, Susie nodding in agreement.

"Oh! I also spoke with Seam a few days ago, he said that he's got some really good deals for you both when you get back here again!" Ralsei said with a smile. "I can take you to him if you would like me to." Susie smiled, her sharp teeth visible to the group. Even after getting close to the girl, the sight of her teeth always put Ralsei on edge. He knew deep down that ever since the group's adventure, she wouldn't think about hurting him in any way shape or form. But part of him was still paranoid about such an act from her. After all, she DID take a rather huge bite out of Top Chief's cake for Clover. He couldn't help but wonder at times how they was doing. He hadn't seen them since him and Kris' encounter with them in the Forest. But he snapped out of those thoughts when he heard Susie's voice. "Oh hell yeah! More stuff for me and Kris!"

She was about to take Kris and Ralsei out the castle when Noelle suddenly stopped her. "Wait, Susie! What time is it right now? I told my mom I would come back home after school!" she asked, her voice full of panic. Susie scoffed a little. "C'mon Noelle, nobody's gonna worry about you. I'm sure your parents will understand if you-."

"4:45pm." Kris interrupted, looking at the watch on his wrist. Susie looked back at Kris, a glare in her eyes. Noelle on the other hand, looked on in shock, eyes wide in horror. "4:45?! Oh God, I need to get back home! My mom's gonna worried sick! She's gonna wonder where I am and why I'm not back yet!" she said, almost screaming in panic. She continued to ramble about her concerns, mostly about how her parents will react to her coming home later than usual, when Kris walked towards Noelle and grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Noelle, calm down. We'll head back to the surface and you can go home." he said, reassuringly, Ralsei and Susie looking on. "Oh okay Kris. I can understand Noelle might want to go home, especially if her family's wondering where she is." Ralsei replied. Susie quickly pushed forward, almost pushing over Ralsei and began to approach Kris. "But Kris, what about the shop? Ralsei just said-."

"Forget about the shop, Susie!" Kris exclaimed, turning back to face her, startling Ralsei and stopping Susie in her tracks towards him. His eyes became visible under his hair. The red eyes almost seemed to glow as he stared daggers at Susie, something that even put her in a state of unease. Kris shut his eyes, breathed in through his nose and exhaled, calming himself down. "I'm sure Seam will hold onto those items until we see him. But right now, we need to get back home, or else our parents are gonna get worried." Susie wanted to protest this new plan, but getting a glance at Noelle and the pure concern on her face made her back down. She gave in with a sigh and a "Fine.", causing relief to wash over the deer girl, whose shoulders were still be held onto by the human.

Ralsei spoke up once again. "Well, Kris and Susie got back through closing one of the eastern dark fountains. I'm afraid that fountain no longer exists, but I've actually been practising more magic since then. I can use a spell to get you three back to your homes." Noelle nodded her head. "Yes! Please do!" she added with such motion. Susie sighed. "Might as well, since that's what you so desperately want."

"Okay, well what I need you guys to do is stand close to one another." Ralsei said as he split from the group, standing in front of them. Noelle and Kris took a step towards Susie and awaited the spell to return back home. Once they were close enough, Ralsei placed his hands together and shut his eyes. The goat then began a chant as white orbs began to appear around him. Noelle looked down at her feet and saw herself surrounded by a forming pillar of light. She glanced over at Susie and Kris to see the same thing around them. Susie looked just as confused as Noelle had done, but Kris seemed indifferent about it, as if he had gone through this spell a thousand times before. After a few seconds, Ralsei threw his arms forward and the pillars of light became brighter. Once the pillars vanished, the three were missing too, leaving Ralsei all alone in the room.

Ralsei fell to his knees, weakened by the spell. He stayed in this position for about a minute or so, catching his breath. "Goodness, I haven't done a teleportation spell like that in years." He said to himself. He then tried to stand back up, but his legs gave out, causing him to fall back onto his knees, just in time for Lancer to walk into the room. "Lesser Dad, there was no Hathy in the other room! I looked everywhere for 'em!" he called out, only to find the room empty aside from Ralsei. Concerned, the young sire ran over to his friend, kneeling down beside him. "Fluffy boy, are you okay? You look like you're hurt! And where's your friends?" he asked the goat, worried about his friend's well-being. "Yeah, I'm fine Lancer. I just sent the others home with a spell that I haven't used in years." Ralsei replied. He took a look at his hands. "Heh, good to know I've still got it." he added to himself, a smirk growing on his face.

"Here, let me help you back up." Lancer said, grabbing Ralsei's arm and placing it behind his head, his hand resting on his shoulder. The two slowly rose to their feet, Ralsei wobbling a little before regaining his balance. "Th-thank you Lancer." Ralsei said, taking his arm off the young king's shoulder. "Good to know there are those in the Dark World that care about monsters like me." He added as he walked over to a nearby window, looking out over the kingdom the Dark World held, Lancer watching the prince's pace to the glass. Once Ralsei got to the glass, he stopped and looked out into the rest of the kingdom, not saying another word, apparently in thought about something. Even Lancer noticed how down the usually upbeat and happy prince was. It took a few seconds of silence in the room before Lancer finally spoke up.

"Hey... Ralsei...?" Lancer began, Ralsei not moving from his spot, his eyes still focused on the outskirts of the window. "Ralsei, what's wrong? You're not normally this quiet. Is... somethin' botherin' you?" The king added, his voice full of concern for the prince. Ever since his father had been overthrown, Lancer had gotten closer to Ralsei. He would've considered making him second in command if Rouxls Kaard hadn't intervened with that proposal. Heck, Ralsei would even consider Lancer a true friend, if he hadn't given that title to Kris and Susie already. But Lancer was definitely up there in Ralsei's friend list.

After a few seconds, Ralsei sighed, lifting a hand to remove his hat from his head, his white fur becoming visible as he glanced down, either at his hat or at the floor, it was hard to tell from where Lancer was standing. "Do you ever wish for more in life, Lancer?" the prince questioned, getting the king's attention. Lancer took a step forward towards Ralsei. "Wh-what do you mean?" he asked, taken aback by such a question. Ralsei raised his head, facing back out the window. "Do you wish for more in your life? Like, do you wish things were different?" Ralsei rephrased the question. The blue and white boy stood, his non visible eyes looking to the ground as he searched for an answer. "Not often." he answered. "Why? Are you having those thoughts?"

Ralsei turned back around to face the King. It might've been a trick of the light, but Lancer could've sworn that he saw tears brewing inside Ralsei's eyes. Then again, it could've been a reflection of light on his glasses. "It's just..." Ralsei began, before pausing to collect his thoughts. His eyes darted to the ground, trying to find the words to complete his sentence. "I wish that Susie and Kris could stay down here at times. I know they've got their own lives, but do you have any idea... ANY idea, how it feels to be living inside a town with nobody around but yourself?" Ralsei questioned Lancer, taking a step forward. This was a shock to Lancer, for he had never seen Ralsei like this before. Annoyed? Yes, but never truly upset. There was another round of silence before Ralsei continued.

"Before Kris and Susie came down from their world, I was living in the castle town by myself. Granted I had full access to every building in that town, but there was not a single soul living down there with me. I tried sleeping inside my castle, but it only served as a cold reminder of how alone I felt. Not even sleeping with all my stuffed animals by my side helped. I read all the books about the prophecy, about magic and all other things that could be written about in those walls, but after a while, you lose interest in small things like that. The words blur together, the sentences run on for so long and the stories lose their meaning the more you look at them. I walked out of my castle and started sleeping in the different houses inside the town, just so it felt like I wasn't alone. But nothing worked, I just felt more and more alone. You have any idea what I mean?" Ralsei explained. Lancer was taken aback even more by Ralsei's tone. NEVER had the goat prince ever spoken about anything like this, not with him, not with Susie or Kris, not with anybody.

Lancer stood in awe for a minute before answering. "R-Ralsei, I... I don't know what to tell you. I mean... I'm not very good with life advice or anything of the sort. If I had anything like that on my mind, I'd speak to Lesser Dad." he explained. Ralsei exhaled sharply, startling the young king slightly. "You know something Lancer? You're lucky. You had a dad. A cruel merciless one that would've probably killed you one day should you upset him, but a dad at the very least. On top of that, you've got Rouxls Kaard as a second father figure. If something was bothering you... then you could talk to them." Ralsei replied, his voice becoming shaky at points. It almost sounded as though the prince in green could burst into tears at any moment with how his voice quivered. "You could talk to Rouxls, you could talk to the Hathys, the Rudinns, the other three kings even! Meanwhile, folks like me don't have anyone to discuss their problems with! You wouldn't have any idea what it's like, until you've been by yourself for who knows how long, when out of nowhere, a pair of strangers meet you! And even then, they have parents to go back to. Families! I don't even remember ANY memories of my parents at all! Sometimes I don't even think I have any to begin with! Between you and me Lancer, Kris and Susie are probably the only family I've got! Do you have any idea what it feels like, when they have to leave me by myself again?!" Ralsei exclaimed, his voice fully quivering and tears freely rolling down his cheeks.

Once he felt silent, Ralsei's face had a tinge of red behind the white fur, those under his eyes getting wet by the tracks left behind by his tears and the only sounds from the prince were heavy and shaky breathing, accompanied by the occasional sniff. Lancer was in stunned silence at the prince's rant, never had he once thought about things like that before. Ralsei was right, Lancer DID have it lucky compared to him. Ralsei removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, presumably to stop himself from further crying, as he turned back to face outside the window, away from Lancer. After a few seconds more of silence, Ralsei spoke, his voice now calmer and softer than before. "I'm sorry Lancer, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just... I've had those feelings and thoughts for an awfully long time. I just... I don't even know how to put it any more."

"Then don't." Lancer said. "You've got a lot on your mind. Ya just need someone to speak to about 'em. You should do what I do: go for long walks around the Dark World. Heck, I even went round the forest a little more than usual and spoke with this girl monster with three heads. They seem real interested in you, both romantically and-." he explained, before Ralsei interrupted him. "You mean Clover?"

Lancer nodded, Ralsei noticing in the reflection of the window. He sighed before continuing. "Look, I appreciate the gesture Lancer. And... I did notice how they acted around me. For a while, I thought maybe they felt a certain way about me. But, I don't think Clover and I would work. Nothing against them, but the idea of being with three... partners at once... just rubs me the wrong way. I don't know what it is, but it just feels wrong to me." Ralsei explained, his face not moving from the window. Lancer walked up to the prince, his reflection becoming more and more clearer to Ralsei. He only stopped when he was right behind the goat boy. "Well you know you've got me Ralsei. You can talk to me about anything." the king added, wrapping his arms around Ralsei's waist for a hug and resting his head against his back.

Ralsei smiled, as he placed his hat back onto his head. "Thanks Lancer. I'm glad to know you understand." he said, as he continued to observe the Dark World from the window.


End file.
